Georgian folk tales

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Georgian folk tales, translated by Marjo

olln

3 1924 029 936 006

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No. I
GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

' I quite understand, my good friend,' said I, ' the contempt
you bestow upon the nursery tales with which the Hajee and I
have been entertaining each other ; but, believe me, he who
desires to be well acquainted with a people will not reject their
popular stories or local superstitions. Depend upon it, that man
is too far advanced into an artificial state of society who is a
stranger to the effects which tales and stories like these have upon
the feelings of a nation ..."

Sir John Malcolm's Sketches of Persia, ch. xvi.

Georgian Folk Tales

TRANSLATED BY

Marjory Wardrop

Published by David Nutt

in the Strand, London

I 894

Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty

TO
DR. EDWARD B. TYLOR

AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF

ADMIRATION FOR HIS GREAT TALENTS

THESE TRANSLATIONS ARE

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

AS the first attempt to translate into English any part of
the varied and interesting secular literature of the
Georgian people, this little book may perhaps claim some
attention from the public. A volume of sermons by Bishop
Gabriel of Kutais was published by the Rev. S. C. Malan in
1867, but, with this single exception, I do not know of any
other work in the Iberian tongue which has been offered to
English readers. The state of comparative neglect into
which Oriental studies in general have fallen of late among
us, the rulers of the East, accounts, to some extent, for
this fact ; it is to be hoped that an improvement in this
respect may soon be apparent.

Some years ago, a book written by my brother ^ first
excited my interest in the Caucasus and its brave and

1 The Kingdom of Georgia : Notes of Travel in a Land of Women,
Wine, ajid Song. To which are appended Historical, Literary, and
Political Sketches, Specimens of the National Music, and a Compen-
dious Bibliography, with Illustrations and Maps. By Oliver Wardrop.
London : Sampson Low, 1888.

viii GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

beautiful inhabitants. A study of the classical literature,
especially of the great epic poet, Shota Rusthaveli, of the
twelfth century, has profitably occupied much of my time
during the past two years, and it is my intention to give my
countrymen an early opportunity of sharing in the pleasure
I have derived therefrom.

As a relaxation from these more arduous studies, I
amused myself by turning into English the originals of the
following stories. I showed the manuscript to Dr. E. B.
Tylor, who told me that it presented many features of
interest to folklorists, and advised me to publish it ; it is,
therefore, fitting that I should dedicate the book to the
creator of the modern science of anthropology, and he has
kindly given me permission to do so.

The geographical position of Georgia, a region lying
between East and West, forming a bridge along which
a great part of the traffic in ideas as well as in com-
modities must pass, makes it a rich field of inquiry
for the student. By their religious and political con-
nection with Byzantium on the one hand, and by their
constant intercourse with Persia and Turkey on the
other, the Iberians have gained much from both Christen-
dom and Islam, and among them may yet be found
lost links in several chains of historical and literary
investigations.

PREFACE ix

The sources from which I have taken the stories are the
following : —

Part I. is a collection edited by Mr. Aghniashvili, and
published in Tiflis, in 1891, by the Georgian Folklore
Society, under the title, Khalkliuri Zghaprebi.

Part II. comprises the Mingrelian stories in Professor
A. A. Tsagareli's Mingrelskie Etyudy, S. Pbg., 1880 (in
Mingrelian and Russian).

These were collected by Professor Tsagareli during the
years 1876-79, chiefly in the districts of Sachichuo and
Salipartiano, which lie almost in the centre of Mingrelia,
far removed from foreign influence, and are famous for the
purity of their Mingrelian idiom. The Mingrelian dialect
is rapidly being replaced by pure Georgian throughout the
country.

Part III. is an anonymous collection, entitled Gruzinskiya
Narodnyya Skazki. Sobr. Bebur B.* S. Pbg., 1884.

It will be found that, besides the differences due to geo-
graphical position, the three groups of stories are not of the
same character. Part 11. is more naive and popular than
Part I., and Part iii. exhibits more appreciation of the
ridiculous than the rest of the book, and is of a more
didactic nature.

X GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

The points of resemblance between the following stories
and those quoted by the late Mr. Ralston, in his well-known
Russian Folk Tales, are so numerous, and so apparent,
that I have not thought it necessary to refer to them in
the notes.

In conclusion, I must express my thanks to Prince Ivane
Machabeli, of Tiflis, the Georgian translator of Shakespeare,
for his kindness in reading my proofs, and to my brother,
who did the Russian part of the work for me.

M. W.

Chislehurst, April 1894.

CONTENTS

GEORGIAN TALES

PAGE

I. Master and Pdpil, ..... i

II. The Three Sisters and their .Stepmother, . 5

III. The Good-for-Nothing, . . .11

IV. The Frog's Skin, . ... 15

V. Fate, .... . 22
VI. Ghvthisavari, ...... 25

VII. The Serpent and the Peasant, . . 39

VIII. GULAMBARA AND SULAMBARA, . . . .42

IX. The Two Brothers, ..... 49

X. The Prince, ...... 52

XI. Conkiajghardna, ..... 63

XII. ASPHURTZELA, ...... 68

xni. The Shepherd and the Child of Fortune, 83

xrv. The Two Thieves, ..... 88

XV. The Fox and the King's Son, . 97

XVI. The King's Son and the Apple, . . .104

MINGRELIAN TALES

I. The Three Precepts, . . . . .109

II. Kazha-ndii, . . . . . .112

III. The Story of Gbria, the Poor Man's Son, . 118

xii GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

PAGE

IV. The Prince who befriended the Beasts, 124

V. The Conning Old Man and the 'Demi,' . . 129
VI. Sanartia, ...... 132

VII. The Shepherd Judge, .... 138

VIII. The Priest's Youngest Son, . . 140

Mingrelian Proverbs, . 142

GURIAN TALES

I. The Strong Man and the Dwarf, . . -147

II. The Grasshopper and the Ant, . .150

III. The Countryman and the Merchant, . 153

IV. The King and the Sage, . . 160
V. The King's Son, . . 162

VI. Teeth and No-Teeth, . . . 163

VII. The Queen's Whim, .... 164

VIII. The Fool's Good Fortune, . . .165

IX. Two Losses, ... . . 167

X. The Story of Dervish, . . . .168

XI. The Father's Prophecy, . . 171

xiL The Hermit Philosopher, . 172

XIII. The King's Counsellor, . 173

XIV. A Witty Answer, . . . 174

GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

I

Master and Pupil

(or the Devil Outwitted)

ONCE upon a time there was a poor peasant who had
one son. And it came to pass that his wife said to
him : ' He should learn some trade, for when he is separated
from thee, what will he do if he is left ignorant like thee ? '
The wife importuned him ; she gave him no rest. So the
peasant took his child, and went to seek a master for him.
On the way they were thirsty. He saw a rivulet, drank
eagerly till his thirst was quenched, and when he lifted up his
head he cried out : 'Ah ! how good thou art ! ' ^ On saying
this, there came forth from the water a devil in the form of
a man, and said to the peasant : ' What dost thou want, O
man ! I am Vakhraca ; what troubles thee ? ' The peasant
told him all his story. The devil, when he learnt this,
said : ' Give me this son of thine : I will teach him for one
year, then come hither ; if thou knowest him, it is well, he
will go with thee ; if not, he is mine and mine alone, he
shall be lost to thee.'

Now this devil had other children to bring up on the
' In Georgian : Vakh ra cargi khan !
A

2 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

same conditions; and, since in a year children change
so much that their parents may no longer know them,
the devil always had the best of it. The peasant knew
nothing about this ; he agreed to the proposal, and went
home. A year passed by, and the father of the child
same to the devil ; he did not find the devil at home.
He saw in the courtyard a multitude of boys, and looked
again and again, but could not recognise his boy. He
was sad. However, his own son came up and knew him.
Then the boy said : ' Presently my instructor will come ;
he will turn us all into doves, and we shall fly away ; in
the flight I shall fly before all, and in the return I shall be
behind all ; and when my master asks thee which is thy
son, thou wilt point to me.' The peasant rejoiced, and
awaited the master with a hopeful heart. In a little while
the master appeared. He called his pupils, turned them
into doves, and ordered them to fly away. The peasant's
son flew before all, and when they returned remained behind.
The master inquired : ' Now, dost thou know which is thy
son ? ' The peasant pointed him out. The devil was
enraged when he perceived the trick his pupil had played
him, but what did it matter ! The boy left him.

The father went and took his son with him. They came
to a place where nobles were hunting : some greyhounds
were pursuing a hare, but they could not catch it. The boy
said to his father : ' Go thou into the wood, raise a hare. I
will turn into a hound, and will seize it before the eyes of
these nobles. The nobles will follow thee, and will be
anxious to buy me. Ask a high price, and sell me to them.
Then I shall seize the first opportunity to escape, and over-
take thee on the road.' The father went into the wood and
started a hare ; his son turned into a hound, pursued the

MASTER AND PUPIL 3

hare, and, just before the eyes of the nobles, he pounced on
it. They crowded round the peasant, and insisted upon
buying the dog. The peasant asked a high price, which
they paid in exchange for the hound. The nobles attached
a cord to the dog, and went away. When they had
travelled a little way along the road a hare started from the
thicket. They let the hound loose, and sent him after it.
When he had chased the hare a long way, and had lost
sight of the nobles, he changed again into a boy, and
followed his father.

The father and son went on their way ; the money seemed
inadequate. ' I must get some more,' said the son. They
looked round ; another party of nobles were pursuing a
pheasant ; the falcons flew after it, but for some reason
could not catch it. The boy changed himself into a falcon,
and sported with the pheasant in the air, just before the
nobles' eyes. He brought it down ; they were frantic with
pleasure, and said to the peasant : ' Thou must sell this
falcon to us.' The peasant again fixed a high price, to
which the nobles agreed, and this they paid him in ex-
change for the falcon. The peasant went on his way. The
nobles, after travelling some distance, sent the falcon in
pursuit of another pheasant. The falcon flew after the bird,
and, when he was out of the nobles' sight, changed into a
boy and joined his father.

The father and son went on with their money, but the
son was not content with it. He said to his father : ' Come,
I will change into a splendid horse ; mount me, go into a
town and sell me. But remember not to sell me to a man
with variegated eyes ; if thou dost, do not give him the
bridle, for then, thou knowest, I shall not be able to free
myself from his hands.' On saying this, the boy changed

4 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

into a splendid, spirited horse, his father mounted and
rode into the town. Here he saw many who wanted to buy
it, but more eager than any was a man with variegated eyes.
Whenever any one added a manethi (rouble) to the price, he
added a thuman (ten roubles). Love of money conquered
the peasant, and he sold the horse to the man with varie-
gated eyes. He bought the bridle with it, mounted the
horse and spurred it on. He went, disappeared, and could
no longer contain his joy that he had his pupil once more
in his power. He reached home, shut the horse in a dark
room, and locked the door. His pupil lay down and was
sad ; he thought and grieved, but there seemed to be no
help for him ; time passed, and he could contrive no means
of escape.

One day he noticed that a sunbeam entered the stable
through a hole. He changed himself into a mouse and ran
out. His master saw him, however, and pursued him as a
cat. The mouse ran, the cat followed. Just when the cat
was about to seize him in his mouth, the mouse turned into
a fish swimming in a stream. The master turned into a
net and followed him ; the fish swam away, but the net
came after him. Just when the net was going to cover
him, the fish changed into a pheasant and flew away. The
master pursued him as a falcon. The pheasant flew on
and the falcon followed. When the falcon was about to put
its claws into him, he turned into a red apple, and rolled
into the king's lap. The falcon changed into a knife in the
king's hand. Just when the king was going to cut the
apple, it changed into a codi (80 lbs.) of millet spread on a
cloth. The devil changed himself into a brood-hen, and
began to eat it. When it had eaten almost all, and only
left one grain, this grain turned into a needle, and rolled in

THE THREE SISTERS 5

front of the hen, which changed into a thread in the eye of

the needle. As it was about to hold back the needle, the

needle ran into the fire and burned the thread. The boy

thus escaped from the devil, went home to his father,

and lived happily ever afterwards.'

II

The Three Sisters and their Stepmother

ONCE upon a time there was a peasant who had three
daughters. This man's wife was dead, so he took
to himself another. The stepmother hated the girls like
the plague. Every day she bothered her husband, saying :
' Take away these daughters of thine, and get rid of them.'
Sometimes she yielded to their father's entreaties, some-
times she gave way to her dislike. At last she could bear
it no longer : she became ill, went to bed, took with her
crisp, flat bread, and began to moan. She turned on one
side, made the loaves crack, and cried out : ' My sides are
breaking. Oh ! turn me on my other side ! ' The cause
of all this was her stepdaughters, so her husband, seeing
that nothing was to be done, consented to get rid of them.

He went away into the forest. There he saw a large
apple-tree bearing fruit ; underneath it he dug a deep hole,
took an apple for each, and went home. When he came
in, he gave each her apple. The girls liked the taste of the
apples, and said to their father : ' Where didst thou find
these ? canst thou not bring some more ? ' The father
replied : ' There are many of these apples in the forest, but
I have not time to bring more. If you like, you can come

1 Cf. Lady Charlotte Guest's Maiinogion (1877), p. 472. Taliesin.

6 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

with me ; I will shake them down, you can gather them up
and bring them away.' The girls were delighted, and went
with their father.

Their father had secretly covered up the hole, and said to
the girls : ' Here are the apples. I will shake them down,
but until I tell you do not gather them up. Then, when I
speak, you can all scramble for them, and whoever picks up
an apple, it is hers.' The father went up to the tree, and
when he had shaken it well, called out to his daughters :
' Now, catch who can ! ' The girls suddenly rushed on to
the covering, which could not bear their weight ; it fell
into the hole, taking with it the three girls. Their father
threw them in a great many apples, left them, and went away.

The girls could not at first understand their father's con-
duct, but then they saw that he had brought them into the
wood on purpose, and said : ' Our wicked stepmother is to
blame for this 1 ' but there was no help for it, so these
three little maidens sat down and wept. They wept and
wept until their faces were pale ; their tears shook heaven
above and the earth beneath. At last the apples were
finished. They thought and thought, and decided that
each should let blood from her little finger, and that they
should eat her whose blood tasted sweetest. They let
blood, and it was agreed by all that the youngest sister's
was sweetest. She said : ' O sisters ! do not eat me. I
have three apples hidden ; eat them, and perhaps God will
help us.'

Then she bent on her knees, and prayed to God : ' O
God, for Thy name's sake, I beseech Thee, let one of my
hands turn into a pickaxe, and the other into a shovel.'
God heard her prayer. One of her hands changed into a
pickaxe, and the other into a shovel. With one hand she dug

THE THREE SISTERS 7

a hole, and with the other shovelled away the earth. She dug
and dtig until she came to a mouse's hole. She took thence
nuts, little nuts, and gave them to her sisters. She went on
digging, and broke down a stable wall. This stable belonged
to the king, and almonds and raisins were strewed about
in it. The girls used to go to the stable ; they stole the
almonds and raisins, and ate them. The grooms were
astonished, and said : ' Who can it be that steals the almonds
and raisins ? The horses are dying of starvation.'

The little maiden, in her digging, next broke the window
of an old woman's hut. Every morning the mistress of this
hut went to mass. Feeling sorry for the old woman, the
girls stole into the hut, cleaned and tidied everything, put
beans on the fire to cook, broke off sufficient bread for
themselves, and stole away again. When the old woman
came home she was filled with surprise. Who could have
been there and stolen her bread ? Perhaps she could find
out. She did not go to mass next day. She rolled herself
in a mat, and stuck herself up, like a stick, near the door.
The girls came ; they thought the old woman had gone to
mass, and stole into the hut one by one. The old woman
watched from the mat with both her eyes, and she could
scarcely believe what she saw. She saw the three maidens
enter — each more beautiful than the other, all fair, as if the
sun had never frowned upon them. She gazed and gazed
until she could bear it no longer : she threw off the mat,
seized one of them in her arms, and said : ' Who art thou,
who art so angelic ? Art thou human or an angel ? ' The
maiden replied : ' We are three sisters, we are human.
Thus and thus has it befallen us.' And she told their tale
to the old woman, who was delighted that she had found the
three sisters. She guarded them as the light of her eyes.

8 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

and, when she went out, turned up baskets over them, that
none should see them and take them away.

Once the woman went to mass. She left the girls under
baskets, and shut the doors. Then the idea came into the
girls' heads that they would like some raisins. They rose,
took off the baskets, and crept into the stable. Just as they
were beginning to steal raisins, the groom hastened in
seized the three sisters, and took them before the king.
The king asked them who they were, and they told him all
their history. The king said : ' Tell me, what can you
do ? ' The eldest sister said : ' I can weave such a carpet
that every man in thy army could sit on it, and still half of
it would not be unrolled.' The second sister said : ' I can
cook enough food in an egg-shell to feed thine army, and
when they have eaten, half yet shall remain.' The king said
to the youngest : ' What canst thou do ? ' She replied : ' I
can bear golden-haired boys.' The king was pleased with
this answer, and wedded her. He tried her sisters' skill, but
the eldest could not weave a carpet large enough for one
man, while the food cooked by the second sister would not
have satisfied a bird. The king waxed wroth, and said to
his wife : ' If thou deceivest me too, none of you shall
live.'

Some time passed, and the youngest sister was with
child. At that time the king's enemy came against him,
and he prepared to go forth to battle. Before he set out
he left this message : ' If my wife bears a son, let a sword
be suspended over the door ; if she bears a daughter, let a
spinning-wheel be hung up.' Shortly after this his wife
went to bed. Her sisters would allow no one to enter the
bed-room ; they tended her and nursed her themselves.

The king's wife brought forth a golden-haired boy. Her

THE THREE SISTERS 9

two sisters were angry that their youngest sister should be
proved truthful in the sight of the king, while they were
liars ; they wished her also to appear untruthful. They
arose, and, without the mother's knowledge, took away the
golden-haired boy, and put in his place a puppy dog. They
did not dare to kill the child, so they made a box, laid him
in it, and put it in a river. The river carried it away, and
it stuck in a mill-race. The race was dammed up and the
mill stopped. The miller came out, and saw the box fixed
in the race ; he took it up and opened it. Behold, there
lay a golden-haired child ! He was childless, so he took it
home and brought it up. In the meantime the sisters hung
up a pestle over the door. The king returned from the
battle and saw the pestle. He was very much surprised,
and said : ' What does this mean ? what has my wife
brought forth ? ' They said : ' A puppy.' The king was
very angry, but thought : ' Perhaps some one has done
this ; I will wait and see if she has a son.'

A year passed, and his wife was again with child. One
day, when the king was out hunting, a golden-haired boy was
born. The sisters, as before, would allow no one in the
room. They took the child away secretly, and put a kitten
in its place. They again put the child in a box in the
river, and the miller found it again. The sisters hung the
pestle over the door. When the king returned from the
chase, and saw the pestle, he burned with fires of rage, and
sparks shot from his eyes. He took his wife out, caused her
to be wrapped in a bullock's skin, and bound to a column
in front of the palace. Every one who passed by was
ordered to spit in her face and strike her. Thus unjustly
did he torture an innocent being ! The miller loved the
two golden-haired children as if they were the apple of his

lo GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

eye. They became very wise, brave, and handsome, and
grew as much in a day as other children grow in a year.

Once when the king was out hunting, he saw a group of
children playing, but among them were two who far excelled
the others. The king was very much taken with these two
children, and could not withdraw his eyes from them. He
looked and looked, and would never have been tired of
looking ; he wished to gaze on them for ever. He noticed
how strongly they resembled himself. He was astonished,
and said to himself : ' Who can these children be, who are
so like myself?' But he could not guess the truth. Just
then, while playing, the cap fell from the head of one of the
brothers, and showed his golden hair. The king was struck,
and inquired : ' Whose children are these ? ' He was told
they were the miller's sons.

The next day the king gave a banquet, and invited the
miller and his golden-haired sons. When the children came
into the king's courtyard, they saw a woman bound to a
column, and they looked long, and knew that this must be
their mother. The cook was roasting a pheasant. The
elder brother went inside, took the spit from the cook, sat
down by the fireside, and turned the pheasant round. When
it became red and was cooked, he began to tell a tale. All
ears were pricked up, and the people looked into his face.
The boy began to tell his mother's tale. After he had told
how his mother bore the golden-haired boys, and how the
sisters were so treacherous, he concluded by saying : ' If
this story is true, the bullock's skin will burst, and my
mother be free.' And the bullock's skin burst, and his
mother came in.

When the story was quite finished, his younger brother
came in and took the spit in his hand, and said : ' If all my

THE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING ii

brother's tale is true and this is indeed our mother, this roast

pheasant will have feathers and fly away.' Feathers appeared

on the roast pheasant, and it flew off. The people gazed

open-mouthed. The astonished king commanded the

jealous sisters to be brought, bound them to horses' tails,

and had them dragged about. The king took his

wife and children into the palace, and rejoiced greatly

that he had learnt the truth and found his

golden-haired sons.^

Ill

The Good-for-nothing

THERE was once a good-for-nothing man, who had a
shrewish wife. This wife would give him no rest.
She importuned him, saying : ' Thou must go away, travel
forth and seek for something ; thou seest how poor we are.'
At last the husband could no longer bear her reproaches, so
he arose and went.

He went forth, he himself knew not whither he was going.

He travelled on, and when he had ascended the ninth
mountain from where he started, he saw a large house, and
in this house devis dwelt. He came near and saw in the
middle of the room a fire, round which the devis were
sitting, warming their hands. He went in and spoke in a
friendly manner to them, and sat down by the fire. The
devis treated him well, for he had spoken them fair. He
stayed with them by day and by night ; he ate with them,
he drank with them, he slept with them ; he was like their
youngest brother.

These devis possessed a wishing-stone. When they were
' Cf. Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion, p. 353. Pwll.

12 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

assembled together, they took out the stone : if they wished
for dinner, dinner appeared ; if they wanted supper, they
wished for supper, and lo ! what they wished for heartily
appeared before their eyes. They lived thus without care,
they had no kind of sorrow, and this was just what our good-
for-nothing liked ; he approved of this life, and wanted to
steal the wishing-stone.

Once when the devis were in a deep sleep, the good-for-
nothing silently stole out of the bedroom, took the wishing-
stone, and came to the door. He wished the door to open,
and sure enough it began to creak. It creaked and called
out : ' The guest has stolen the wishing-stone.' The good-
for-nothing turned back, put the stone in its place, went into
the bedroom, and pretended to be asleep. The creaking of
the door awoke the devis ; they jumped up and looked ;
they found the wishing-stone in its place, and the good-for-
nothing in a sweet slumber. They rejoiced, closed the
door, and went to sleep again. When they had fallen into
a profound sleep, the good-for-nothing rose up, took the
stone, came to the door, and, when he wished it to open, it
began to creak out : ' The guest has stolen the wishing-
stone.' The good-for-nothing turned back, again put the
wishing-stone in its place, went into the bedroom and
began to snore as if he were asleep. The devis awoke
and looked, but the stone was in its place, and the good-
for-nothing snoring. They were surprised, but shut the
door, and went to sleep. The good-for-nothing did this
trick over and over again. The devis were angry, and
furiously jumped up, pulled down the door, and put it in
the fire. When the door was burned, and the devis slept
again, the good-for-nothing rose up, put the wishing-stone
in his pocket, and left the house. The next morning, when

THE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING 13

the devis awoke, they saw that neither the good-for-nothing
nor the wishing-stone was there any longer. They looked
everywhere, but could not tell whether heaven or earth had
swallowed them, so they learnt nothing.

The good-for-nothing went on his way joyfully ; he no
longer had any care or thought ; he rejoiced that now he
could live without trouble. He went on, and met on the
road a man with a big stick. This man said : ' Brother,
give me something to eat.' The good-for-nothing put his
hand in his pocket, and took out the wishing-stone. He
wished, and there appeared before them everything ready
for eating. When they had finished their meal, the man
with the stick said : ' Come, I will exchange my stick with
thee for this stone.' 'What is the use of thy stick?'
inquired the good-for-nothing. ' If any one stretches out
his hand and calls, " Out, stick ! " the stick will fall upon
the person in front of its master.' The good-for-nothing
made the exchange, and went away a short distance ; then
he said, ' Out, stick ! ' and stretched it out towards its former
master. It struck him until all his bones were made soft.
When he had been well beaten, the good-for-nothing came,
took his stone, and went on his way with the stick.

He went on and saw a man with a sword, who said :
' Brother, give me something to eat.' The good-for-nothing
took out his wishing-stone, and immediately meat and drink
appeared before them. When he had eaten sufficiently, the
man said : ' Come, I will give thee this sword in exchange
for the stone.' ' What is the use of thy sword ? ' inquired
the good-for-nothing. ' Whoever possesses it can, if he
choose, cut off a hundred thousand heads.'

He exchanged his wishing-stone for the sword, and went
away. After waiting a short time, he said, ' Out, stick ! '

14 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

and pointed to the former owner of the sword. The stick
approached and beat the man mercilessly. Then the good-
for-nothing took the wishing-stone and went away.

He went on again until he met a man with a piece of felt,
who said : ' Brother, give me something to eat.' The good-
for-nothing man took out his wishing-stone, wished, and
immediately a delicious repast appeared. When he had
eaten all he wanted, the man said : ' Come, I will give thee
my felt in exchange for this stone.' ' What is the use of thy
felt ? ' inquired the good-for-nothing. ' If a man's head is
cut off, one only has to take a piece of this felt and apply it ;
his head will stick on again, and he will live.' The good-
for-nothing gave him the stone, took the felt, and went away.
When he had gone a little way, he said, ' Out, stick ! ' and
the stick beat the man till he was like a wrinkled quince.
The good-for-nothing took his stone and travelled on.

At last he came to his home. He placed the stick behind
the door, greeted his wife and spoke thus : ' Wife, see what
I have brought,' and he showed her the sword, felt, and
wishing-stone. His wife looked on him with contempt,
opened her mouth, and cast all the dirt in the world on his
head. The good-for-nothing bore it till he could bear it no
longer, so he called, ' Out, stick ! ' The stick beat her wo-
fully. Then he made his little children sit down, took out
his wishing-stone, wished the table to be laid, and the rarest
delicacies were placed on the cloth. They enjoyed their
dinner, while the beaten wife silently looked down and
sulked. She bore it for a time, but at last she could bear
it no longer, and came and embraced her husband's knees.
Her husband forgave her, and they caressed one another
lovingly.

After some time, this wishing-stone made him quite rich,

THE FROG'S SKIN 15

so that all their dishes were made of gold. Once the wife
said to her husband : ' Thou must invite the king and give
him a great banquet.' Her husband said : ' Dost thou not
know, the king is an envious man ; when he sees these
things, he will take them from us, and put us in prison.'
His wife pleaded and whined until her husband consented.

They invited the king, and made ready a magnificent
banquet. When the feast was finished, the king demanded
the wishing-stone. The good-for-nothing said he could not
spare it. The king was enraged, and sent his whole army to
take it away by force. ' This will not do at all,' said the
good-for-nothing to himself ; ' since they are going to try
and force me, I shall show my strength.' While he spoke,
he pointed the sword at the army, and the stick at the king.
The heads of all the army were cut off, and the stick beat
the envious king.

The king begged and prayed for mercy : ' Only bring my

soldiers back to life again, and I swear I will leave thee in

peace.' Then the good-for-nothing arose, took the felt

and laid a piece on the neck of each soldier, and the

army was restored to life. The king no longer dared

to show his enmity, the good-for-nothing's wife

obeyed him in everything, and they lived

happily ever afterwards.

IV

The Frog's Skin

THERE were once three brothers who wished to marry.
They said : ' Let us each shoot an arrow, and each
shall take his wife from the place where the arrow falls.'

i6 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

They shot their arrows ; those of the two elder brothers fell
on noblemen's houses, while the youngest brother's arrow
fell in a lake. The two elder brothers led home their noble
wives, and the youngest went to the shore of the lake. He
saw a frog creep out of the lake and sit down upon a stone.
He took it up and carried it back to the house. All the
brothers came home with what fate had given them ; the
elder brothers with the noble maidens, and the youngest
with a frog.

The brothers went out to work, the wives prepared the
dinner, and attended to all their household duties ; the frog
sat by the fire croaking, and its eyes glittered. Thus they
lived together a long time in love and harmony.

At last the sisters-in-law wearied of the sight of the frog ;
when they swept the house, they threw out the frog with the
dust. If the youngest brother found it, he took it up in his
hand ; if not, the frog would leap back to its place by the fire
and begin to croak. The noble sisters did not like this, and
said to their husbands : ' Drive this frog out, and get a real
wife for your brother.' Every day the brothers bothered the
youngest. He replied, saying : ' This frog is certainly my
fate, I am worthy of no better, I must be faithful to it.' His
sisters-in-law persisted in telling their husbands that the
brother and his frog must be sent away, and at last they
agreed.

The young brother was now left quite desolate : there
was no one to make his food, no one to stand watching at the
door. For a short time a neighbouring woman came to
wait upon him, but she had no time, so he was left alone.
The man became very melancholy.

Once when he was thinking sadly of his lonehness, he
went to work. When he had finished his day's labour, he

THE FROG'S SKIN 17

went home. He looked into his house and was struck with
amazement. The sideboard was well replenished ; in one
place was spread a cloth, and on the cloth were many
different kinds of tempting viands. He looked and saw
the frog in its place croaking. He said to himself that
his sisters-in-law must have done this for him, and went to
his work again. He was out all day working, and when
he came home he always found everything prepared for
him.

Once he said to himself : ' I will see for once who is this
unseen benefactor, who comes to do good to me and look
after me.' That day he stayed at home ; he seated himself
on the roof of the house and watched. In a short time the
frog leaped out of the fireplace, jumped over to the doors, and
all round the room ; seeing no one there, it went back and
took off the frog's skin, put it near the fire, and came forth
a beautiful maiden, fair as the sun ; so lovely was she
that man could not imagine anything prettier. In the
twinkling of an eye she had tidied everything, prepared the
food and cooked it. When everything was ready, she went
to the fire, put on the skin again, and began to croak.
When the man saw this he was very much astonished ; he
rejoiced exceedingly that God had granted him such happi-
ness. He descended from the roof, went in, caressed his
frog tenderly, and then sat down to his tasty supper.

The next day the man hid himself in the place where he
had been the day before. The frog, having satisfied itself
that nobody was there, stripped off its skin and began its
good work. This time the man stole silently into the house,
seized the frog's skin in his hand and threw it into the fire.
When the maiden saw this she entreated him, she wept —
she said : ' Do not burn it, or thou shalt surely be destroyed '

i8 ■ GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

— but the man had burnt it in a moment. ' Now, if thy
happiness be turned to misery, it is not my fault,' said the
sorrow-stricken woman.

In a very short time the whole country-side knew that the
man who had a frog now possessed in its place a lovely
woman, who had come to him from heaven.

The lord of the country heard of this, and wished to take
her from him. He called the beautiful woman's husband to
him and said : ' Sow a barnful of wheat in a day, or give me
thy wife.' When he had spoken thus, the man was obliged
to consent, and he went home melancholy.

When he went in he told his wife what had taken place.
She reproached him, saying : ' I told thee what would
happen if thou didst burn the skin, and thou didst not
heed me ; but I will not blame thee. Be not sad ; go in
the morning to the edge of the lake from which I came, and
call out : " Mother and Father ! I pray you, lend me your
swift bullocks " — lead them away with thee, and the bullocks
will in one day plough the fields and sow the grain.' The
husband did this.

He went to the edge of the lake and called out : ' Mother
and Father ! I entreat you, lend me your swift bullocks to-
day.' There came forth from the lake such a team of oxen
as was never seen on sea or land.

The youth drove the bullocks away, came to his lord's
fields, and ploughed and sowed them in one day.

His lord was very much surprised. He did not know if
there was anything impossible to this man, whose wife he
wanted. He called him a second time, and said : ' Go and
gather up the wheat thou hast sown, that not a grain may be
wanting, and that the barn may be full. If thou dost not
this, thy wife is mine.'

THE FROG'S SKIN 19

' This is impossible,' said the man to himself. He went
home to his wife, who again reproached him, and then said :
' Go to the lake's edge and ask for the jackdaws.'

The husband went to the edge of the lake and called out :
' Mother and Father ! I beg you to lend me your jackdaws
to-day.' From the lake came forth flocks of jackdaws ;
they flew to the ploughed ground, each gathered up a seed
and put it into the barn.

The lord came and cried out : ' There is one seed short ;
I know each one, and one is missing.' At that moment a
jackdaw's caw was heard ; it came with the missing seed, but
owing to a lame foot it was a little late.

The lord was very angry that even the impossible was
possible to this man, and could not think what to give
him to do.

He puzzled his brain until he thought of the following
plan. He called the man and said to him : ' My mother,
who died in this village, took with her a ring. If thou
goest to the other world and bringest that ring hither to
me, it is well ; if not, I shall take away thy wife.'

The man said to himself : ' This is quite impossible.' He
went home and complained to his wife. She reproached
him, and then said : ' Go to the lake and ask for the ram.'

The husband went to the lake and called out : ' Mother
and Father ! give me your ram to-day, I pray you.' From
the lake there came forth a ram with twisted horns ; from
its mouth issued a flame of fire. It said to the man :
' Mount on my back ! '

The man sat down, and, quick as lightning, the ram
descended towards the lower regions. It went on and shot
like an arrow through the earth.

They travelled on, and saw in one place a man and

20 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

woman sitting on a bullock's skin, which was not big
enough for them, and they were like to fall oif. The man
called out to them : ' What can be the meaning of this, that
this bullock skin is not big enough for two people ? ' They
said : ' We have seen many pass by like thee, but none has
returned. When thou comest back we shall answer thy
question.'

They went on their way and saw a man and woman sitting
on an axe-handle, and they were not afraid of falling. The
man called out to them : ' Are you not afraid of falling from
the handle of an axe ? ' They said to him : ' We have seen
many pass by like thee, but none has returned. When thou
comest back we shall answer thy question.'

They went on their way again, until they came to a place
where they saw a priest feeding cattle. This priest had such
a long beard that it spread over the ground, and the cattle,
instead of eating grass, fed on the priest's beard, and he
could not prevent it. The man called out : ' Priest, what is
the meaning of this ? why is thy beard pasture for these
cattle ? ' The priest replied : ' I have seen many pass by
like thee, but none has returned. When thou comest back
I shall answer thy question.'

They journeyed on again until they came to a place
where they saw nothing but boiling pitch, and a flame came
forth from it — and this was hell. The ram said : ' Sit firmly
on my back, for we must pass through this fire.' The man
held fast, the ram gave a leap, and they escaped through
the fire unhurt.

There they saw a melancholy woman seated on a golden
throne. She said : ' What is it, my child ? what troubles
thee ? what has brought thee here ? ' He told her everything
that had happened to him. She said : ' I must punish this

THE FROG'S SKIN 21

very wicked child of mine, and thou must take him a casket
from me.' She gave him a casket, and said : ' Whatever
thou dost, do not open this casket thyself, take it with thee,
give it to thy lord, and run quickly away from him.'

The man took the casket and went away. He came to
the place where the priest was feeding the cattle. The
priest said : ' I promised thee an answer ; hearken unto my
words. In life I loved nothing but myself, I cared for
nought else. My flocks I fed on other pastures than my
own, and the neighbouring cattle died of starvation ; now
I am paying the penalty.'

Then he went on to the place where the man and woman
were sitting on the handle of the axe. They said : ' We
promised thee an answer ; hearken unto our words. We
loved each other too well on earth, and it is the same
with us here.' ^

Then he came to the two seated on the bullock skin, which
was not big enough for them. They said : ' We promised
thee an answer ; hearken unto our words. We despised
each other in life, and we equally despise each other here.'

At last the man came up on earth, descended from
the ram, and went to his lord. He gave him the casket
and quickly ran away. The lord opened the casket, and
there came forth fire, which swallowed him up. Our

brother was thus victorious over his enemy, and no one

took his wife from him. They lived lovingly

together, and blessed God as their deliverer.

' Cf. Tahmid (Polano's translation), p. 290. — 'While our love was
strong we lay on the edge of a sword, now a couch sixty yards wide is
too narrow for us. '

GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

Fate

THERE was once a mighty king, who had an only son.
When this son grew up every princess was in love
with him. The king was very desirous that his son should
be early settled in life. He chose for him a princess,
whom he proposed he should marry. The son objected
very much, saying : ' It is not my fate to be united to this
maiden; I shall not marry her.'

Some time after this the youth came to his father and
said: ' I entreat thee, let me go forth and seek my fortune,
and give me three bags of money.' The king granted his
request. The prince prepared everything, and set out on
his journey.

He travelled on until he met a stranger; this stranger
was an angel, clad in the form of a man. He inquired of
the prince : ' Whither art thou going ? what seekest thou ? '
The prince told him all, and that he wished to learn what
was written in the book of fate for him. Then this stranger
showed him a beautiful palace, and said : ' There thou wilt
learn thy fate.'

The prince thanked him, and set out for the palace.
When he arrived in the courtyard, he looked round, and
saw notes lying about. He began to examine them, but,
for a long time, he searched in vain. Then there came
from the palace another man, who said to the prince :
' What dost thou want, brother ? what seekest thou ? ' The
prince answered : ' I am seeking for the letter in which my
fate is written.' ' Why seekest thou there ? those are only

FATE 23

poor folks' fates, kings' fortunes are written inside. Come
with me and I shall show thee thine,' said the unknown.

The prince entered the house. The unknown searched
for his fate, and called him. Inside was written : ' Such-and-
such a prince will marry a weaver's daughter who has been
ill for nine years.' He read this out, and the prince was
struck with horror. 'I shall change my fate,' said the
prince to himself. He took his letter of fate, and went to
seek the weaver's daughter.

He went on and on, and was in a thick forest when the
shades of evening fell. He wandered on in the hope of
finding shelter, and at last he saw the glimmer of a light.
He came to a hut, and asked permission to remain there
during the night. The master of the house replied : ' Son,
thou art a great man, we have nothing befitting thy rank,
but we can give thee the best we have, for a guest is a
gift of God.' The prince stayed there that night, and his
host grudged him nothing. When they had finished supper,
the prince noticed that somebody was having a meal in
another room. He said to his host : ' I hope that thou
wilt not think me inquisitive if I ask who is in the other
room, and what is the meaning of this ? ' Then the host
told him the following tale :

' I am a weaver, and from day to day can barely live.
God has given me nobody to help me in my work. I have
an only daughter, and she is an invalid. For nine years
she has not risen from her bed ; I can assure thee she gives
me no help.' When the prince heard this, he bit his little
finger with vexation, and became melancholy. He did not
close his eyes that night. He was thinking all the time
how he might get rid of his fate.

In the middle of the night, when every one was snoring

24 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

and slept like the dead, the prince rose silently, stole
from his bedchamber, and quietly entered the room of the
weaver's daughter. When he saw her he was inwardly
troubled, he drew forth his dagger, and plunged it into her.
Then he noiselessly went away, left his money behind him,
and stole forth into the night.

He went home to his father, and complained of the evil
fate written for him. His father was very indignant at this,
but hid his anger, and comforted his son.

Some time passed. One day the prince went out to
hunt. He saw in a lonely wood a beautiful palace, and, in
the palace, a maiden fair as the sun. The prince could
have gazed for ever on her beauty. He looked a long
time, then looking from a distance would not satisfy him.
He spurred his horse, and when he came near he was
even more struck with the loveliness of the maiden. He
descended from his horse, came to her and asked her to
marry him. When he had heard with joy her sweet words
of consent, he went gaily home.

On the way, his head swam with pleasure at the thought
of the welcome change ; instead of the unhappy fate pro-
mised him, he was to have such a beautiful wife. He told
his father what had happened to him, and asked him to
prepare for the wedding. The king rejoiced at the happi-
ness of his beloved son, and made preparations for a grand
wedding.

Some days after they were married, the prince laid his
hand on his lovely wife's heart, and felt something hard
like a wart. He said : ' What is this ? ' His wife replied :
' I am a poor weaver's daughter ; for nine years I lay in
bed, a helpless invalid, yellow as a cucumber. Once there
came a youth to my father's house for shelter. He

GHVTHISAVARI 25

plunged his dagger into me, then fled with haste, and

went on his way. I was very sick, but my mother

put a plaster on my side and I was completely cured.

The guest left three bags of money behind him, and

with these we bought a beautiful palace, my father gave up

weaving, and we lived without a care.' When the

prince heard this, he said : ' O God ! Thy decrees are

not vain and futile ! ' Then he told his beloved

wife all that had happened to him.

VI

Ghvthisavari (I am of God)

THERE was once a king, who had a daughter so
beautiful, that he was in constant fear lest some
one should carry her away by force and marry her. So he
had a huge tower built in the sea. He shut his daughter
up in this tower, with an attendant, and felt relieved.

Some time passed, when one day the attendant noticed
something floating on the water. She was surprised when
she saw that it was a l arge appl e. She stretched out her
dress, and the sea waves rSlled in and left the apple in her
skirt; she took it in her hand, and ran to her mistress.
The beautiful maiden had never in her life seen such a big
apple, and was very much astonished. After dinner she
peeled it, gave the skin to her companion, who quickly
finished it, and ate the inside herself.

In a short time they both became pjegnant. The king
was informed of this. On hearing the news, he pressed his
head between his hands, and could not contain his wrath.

26 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

He commanded one of his huntsmen, saying : ' Go to the
tower in the sea, take thence my daughter and her com-
panion, and carry them to the wildest and most desert spot
in my kingdom. Kill them, and bring me their hearts and
livers to show me that they are dead. No one must know
this story, save thee and me ; if it becomes known it shall
cost thee thy life.'

The huntsman went to the tower, and declared the king's
orders to the princess and her companion. The beautiful
maiden said : ' What will it avail thee to kill us ? Take us
to a lonely place, and no one will know whether we are
dead or alive.'

The huntsman was not moved by these entreaties ; he
took them to a desert place, drew his dagger and was about
to strike the fatal blow, but at the last moment he felt
sorry for them, and gave up his intention. He caught two
hares, killed them instead of the women, took out their
hearts and livers, and returned with them to the king.
The king believed them to be the hearts and livers of the
princess and her attendant; he gave the huntsman gifts,
and sent him away.

The princess and her companion were left alone in the
wild wood, and they had nothing to eat and drink.

In a short time the princess brought forth a beautiful
boy, and the attendant, eight tiny little dogs. The princess
called her son Ghvthisavari (I am of God). He grew as
much in a day as otKer clHdjfen'grow''in"5yearj^"Beb)ecaihe
so handsome, brave, and strong, that everybody loved him.

Ghvthisavari used to go out hunting ; he tooS"hTs~dogs
with him, and provided game for his mother and her
companion.

Once he went into a town to a smith, and asked him to

GHVTHISAVARI 27

make a bow and arrows. The smith made from nine
litras of iron (a litra — g lbs.) a bow and arrows. Ghvthi-
savari bent it. Then the smith added more iron, and made
the bow again. Ghvthisavari slung his arrows over his
shoulders, his dogs followed him, and he went away. On
the way he hunted, and took food home to his mother.

The next day he went to hunt again. He shot an arrow
and killed a goat, he shot another, and killed a stag; he
drew his bow a third time, and his arrow stuck in a devts'
house. In this house there were five brothers, devis — one
two-headed, one three-headed, one five-headed, one nine-
headed, and one ten-headed — and their mother, who had
only one head. They saw an arrow suddenly fall down
and stick in the fire. They all jumped up and pulled the
arrow to draw it out, but they were not able to move it.
The mother helped them, but it was of no use. Then all
the brothers rose up, they left their mother to watch, and
set out to seek him who had shot the arrow. Ghvthisavari
bethought himself, and set out ; he followed the flight of
the arrow to see where it had fallen.

He went on and on until he came io the devis' house.
He looked in and saw in the middle a fire burning, in
which stuck his arrow. He went in, and was about to
draw the arrow out when the devis' mother cried : ' Who art
thou, wretch, who darest to venture here? Art thou not
afraid that I shall eat thee ? ' ' Thou shalt not eat me,'
said Ghvthisavari, drawing out his arrow and hurling it at
the old woman. He cut her into a hundred pieces, gave
her to the dogs, and told them to throw her into the sea.
He lay down in the devis' house and rested.

The devis wandered far and wide in their search, but
nowhere could they learn any tidings of him they sought.

28 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

Then they said : ' Perhaps some one will enter our house
and steal, while we are here. Let one of us go home, and
the rest watch here.' Each wished to go, and promised
to run back again as quickly as possible. But the devis
chose the two-headed brother, and sent him.

The two-headed brother came, and saw that his mother
was no longer there, but in her place was a strange youth.
He clapped him on the shoulder, and cried out : ' Who art
thou, wretch, who darest to venture here ? For fear of me,
bird cannot fly under heaven, nor can ant crawl on earth.
Art thou not afraid that I shall eat thee ? ' ' Thou shalt
not eat me,' said Ghvthisavari, throwing an arrow. He cut
him into a hundred pieces, gave him to the dogs, and
made them throw him into the sea.

The four remaining devis waited for their two-headed
brother, but he did not come. They thought that perhaps
he was staying eating him who had shot the arrow, so
they sent the three-headed brother.

The three-headed devi came home, and found neither his
mother nor brother, and called out : ' For fear of me bird
cannot fly in air, nor can ant creep on earth. Who art
thou who darest to venture here? Art thou not afraid
that I shall eat thee ? ' ' Thou thalt not eat me,' said
Ghvthisavari, casting an arrow. He cut him into a hundred
pieces, gave him to the dogs, and made them throw him
into the sea.

The remaining brothers waited and waited, and then
sent the five-headed devi. He too boasted, but Ghvthi-
savari did unto him that day even as he had done unto
the others. Then the nine-headed devi went. The same
thing befell him as his brothers.

The ten-headed devi was now the only one left. He

GHVTHISAVARI 29

thought to himself : ' My brothers are probably eating,
and will not leave anything for me.' He rose and went
too.

He went in and saw that his mother and brothers were
not there. Instead, there was a strange youth, lying down
resting. The devi called out : ' From fear of me the bird
in heaven dare not fly, on earth the ant dare not crawl.
Who art thou who darest to venture here ? Art thou not
afraid that I shall eat thee?' 'Thou shalt not eat me,'
said Ghvthisavari, throwing an arrow and killing him. He
drew out his sword, cut off his heads, and gave him to the
dogs to throw into the sea.

Ghvthisavari was left master of the field. Then he said
to himself : ' I will go and bring my mother and her com-
panion here, and I shall live as I like.' He went forth and
brought them, settled them in the house, and prepared for
the chase.

From the sea there staggered forth the last ten-headed
devi, and hid under a tree. Whe n Ghvthis avari had cut off
h is head s, in his haste he had left the tenth on. Now, iF'
wasjn. thi'i-h gad- that the „soul_ was placed, so the devi came
out on to jhe shore, full of wrath.

The next day Ghvthisavari again went out hunting. His
mother, wishing to see the surroundings, went out of the
house into the garden. As she walked about, the devi
suddenly appeared at the foot of a tree. The devi pleaded,
saying : ' Do not give me up ! Do not tell thy son that I
am hidden here ! ' Ghvthisavari's mother promised, and
when Ghvthisavari went out to the chase, his__niQth£r
ajwaysJookXQpd and drink to 'Ca,^ dem. An^_ at ,last she
loved hiiij.

Once the devi said to her : ' Why should we live thus ?

30 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

We see each other only in secret, I am continually in terror
of thy son. Go home now, lie down in bed and pretend to
be ill. When thy son comes home and asks thee what is
the matter, say to him : " Go to such and such a place and
bring me some pieces of stag's horns as a remedy." When
thy son goes to the stag, it will butt him with its horns, and
then thou and I shall remain here alone.'

The woman agreed to this plan, went in and lay down in
her bed. Ghvthisavari came home, and seeing his mother
sick, he said to her : ' What is the matter ? Tell me what
will cure thee, and I will find it, even if it be bird's milk.' '
His mother said : ' If thou canst bring to me a piece of
such and such a stag's horn, from a certain place, I shall
be well ; if not, I shall die.' Ghvthisavari slung his bow
and arrows over his shoulders, took his dogs and set out.

When he had gone some way, he came to an immense
wide plain, where he saw a stag feeding. It had such
large horns that they reached to heaven.

He sat down and took an arrow. Just as he was about
to let it fly, the stag made a sign, and cried out : ' Ghvthi-
savari ! Ghvthisavari ! why shoot me ? What have I done
to deserve this of thee ? Dost thou not kn ow that thy moth er
has deceived thee. She seeks thjf ruin, th erefore has she
sent thee hither. Behold, here is a piece of my horn, take
it, and here is one of my hairs, take it with thee also, and
when_thou art in trouble, think of me,_andj[_shall be there.'
Ghvthisavari thanked the stag joyfully, and went away.

He went home with the stag's horn to his mother. She
took it, and thanked him.

The next day Ghvthisavari again went to the chase.

^ The expression ' bird's milk ' is often used in Georgian to signify
a great rarity.

GHVTHISAVARI 31

His mother immediately hastened to the devi and said :
' Ghvthisavari has returned unharmed, and has brought the
stag's horn.' ' Well,' said the devi, ' pretend to be ill as before,
and tell him that he must bring a wild boar's bristle from
such and such a place, else there is no cure for thee.'

The woman ran in, lay down in bed, and began to moan.
Ghvthisavari returned, and seeing his mother ill, he asked
her : ' What is this, mother ? What aileth thee ? Tell me
what will cure thee, and even bird's milk I will not leave
unfound.' 'If thou wilt seek in such and such a place,
and bring me a bristle from a certain wild boar, then all
will be well, but if not, I shall die.' ' May thy Ghvthisavari
die if he find not this ! ' said Ghvthisavari, slinging his bow
and arrows on his shoulders, and taking his dogs, he set
forth on the quest.

He went a long way, and came into a wood. There he
found a boar's lair, but boar was there none. He went on
a little, and saw another lair, but again there was no boar
in it. He went away once more, and saw the boar itself.
It had changed its lair twice, and now lay in a third.
Ghvthisavari approached it, took aim with an arrow, but,
as he was about to let it fly, the boar cried out : ' Ghvthi-
savari ! Ghvthisavari ! what have I done to harm thee ?
Why kill me ? Dost thou not know that thy mother has
deceived thee? She wishes for thy death, therefore has
she sent thee hither. But since thou wouldst like a bristle,
pull out as many as thou wishest, and take them with thee.'
Ghvthisavari came up, took a bristle, and was going away,
when the boar took out a hair, gave it to him, and said :
' Here is also a hair for thee ; when thou art in trouble
remember me, and I shall come to thee.' Ghvthisavari
took the hair, thanked the boar, and went away.

32 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

He came home, gave his mother the bristle, and again
hastened out to the chase. His mother ran immediately
to the devi, and said complainingly : ' Ghvthisavari has re-
turned unharmed, and has brought me the boar's bristle.'
The devi replied : ' Then go, again, pretend to be ill, and
say to Ghvthisavari : " If thou wilt go to a certain place,
where a certain griffin (phascundzi) lives, and bring me
the iiesh of its young, I shall be well ; if not, I shall die."
Thou knowest he cannot do that, and thou and I shall stay
here together.'

The woman rejoiced, ran quickly back to bed, and began
to moan. Ghvthisavari came in, saw his mother in bed,
and asked the cause. His mother replied as the devi had
commanded. Ghvthisavari answered : ' Then may Ghvthi-
savari die if he find not what thou wishest.' He went away.

He went on and on, and at last came to a plain, where
stood a very big tree, whose top stretched to heaven. On
a branch there was a nest, from which fledglings peeped
out. Then, from far away in the sky, there appeared a
huge, strange bird, something like an eagle. It swooped
down, and just as it was about to seize the young birds,
Ghvthisavari drew his bow, and killed it. Just then ap-
peared the griffin, mother of the young ones. She thought
Ghvthisavari her enemy, and was about to seize him, but
her fledglings cried out that he had killed the bird that
would have drunk their blood, and had saved them.

Although the griffin did not bring up more than three
birds in a year, yet she was in constant terror until they
had learnt to fly, because this same bird used to seize and
eat them.

When she learnt that Ghvthisavari had killed their cruel
enemy, she came to him, and said : ' Tell me what thou

GHVTHISAVARI 33

wishest? why art thou come hither? and I will immedi-
ately satisfy thy desire.' Ghvthisavari said : ' I have a
mother who is ill ; unless I take her young griffin's flesh
she will die.' The griffin said in reply : ' Thy mother
deceives thee, and is not ill at all ; she seeks thy death.
Here are my fledglings, if thou wantest them, but do not
kill them, take them with thee alive.' She pulled out a
feather, and gave it to him, saying : ' Take this with thee,
and when thou art in trouble think of me, and I shall be
there.' Ghvthisavari thanked her heartily, took away a
fledgling, and went home.

He came in, gave the young griffin to his mother, who
said : ' Now, my child, I am quite well, and shall want
nothing else,' and she sent him away. Ghvthisavari went
out hunting. The woman went out hastily to the devi, and
complained, saying : ' Ghvthisavari has brought the fledg-
ling, and he himself has returned alive.' The devi was
very angry, but calmed down and said : ' When Ghvthi-
savari comes in, tell him he must be bathed, and when he
sits down in the tub, put a cover over him and call for me.
I will come and hammer down the lid, and throw him into
the sea.' The woman rejoiced at this plan, went in
and heated water. When Ghvthisavari came in, his mother
said : ' Come, child, I will bathe thee, it is some time since
thou wert bathed.' Ghvthisavari did not like this, but at
last he consented. He sat down in the tub, his mother
shut the lid, and called the devi. The devi ran in and
hammered down the lid. Then he lifted the tub up and
rolled it into the sea.

Ghvthisavari's dogs saw this ; they went to the edge of
the water and barked. They barked until the very stones
might have been moved with pity. Then they said : ' Let

c

34 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

us go and seek his friends, they may perchance help us.'
Four remained and four went to seek his friends. They
came to the stag, then to the boar, and then to the griffin.
These all arose and immediately went to the water's edge.

They thought and planned, and at last decided what to
do. They said to the griffin : ' Fly up high, strike and
cleave the water with thy wings, the tub will appear, the
stag will throw it on to the shore with its horns; then
the boar will strike with his tusk, the tub will break,
and Ghvthisavari will come forth.' They all did as they
were told.

The griffin flew up high in the air, beat with its wings
as hard as it could ; it cleft the sea into three. The tub
was seen, and the stag did not let it fall, but threw it with
its horns, and let it down on the shore. Then the boar'
struck it, crying out : ' Ghvthisavari, lie down in the
bottom ! ' He struck with his tusk, broke the tub, and
Ghvthisavari came forth unharmed.

j^gj^this the friends_wfflt tp Jijp Qyfr\ .h^mR. .

Ghvthisavari remained thinking. Just then a ragged swine-
herd came along. Ghvthisavari said to this swineherd :
' Come, give me thy clothes, and I will put them on.' The
swineherd was afraid, and thought : ' This stranger will take
my coat and not give me his,' and he ran away. Ghvthi-
savari pursued him, took off his clothes, and put them
on himself; he gave the man his coat, left with him his
dogs, and went away.

He came home as if he were a beggar, and asked alms of
his mother. When the dem' saw him, he looked ferociously
at him, and said : ' Go back to the place whence thou
camest, lest I do to thee as thou deservest.'

Just then Ghvthisavari saw his bow and arrow in the

GHVTHISAVARI 35

corner, and cried out : ' We shall see who goes hence ! I
am Ghvthisavari ! ' Saying this he drew his bow, shot first
the devi and then his mother, killing them both. Then he
went to the companion, scolded her well for not warning
him, and killed her too. He went away, brought bis dogs,
and returned to the house to rest.

There came then, no one knows whence, a certain
youfK7 Ke""saw his father, mother, and their servant were
air~Eined, and asked Ghvthisavari to fight. He was
GEvthisavari's mother's son by the devi; Ghvthisavari did
not know this, and canie to the combat. A long time they
struggled, a long time they strove, but neither could strike
the other. Then Ghvthisavari said : ' Come, friend, let us
each tell the other his story, and afterwards we can fight.'
' Good ! ' ' Very well,' they said, and each told his tale.

When Ghvthisavari learnt that this was his own brother,
he said : ' It is indeed fortunate that we told our tales first,
for if we had killed each other there would have been no
help for it.' MtertWs the two brothers went into the house,
and they lived happily together.

Once Ghvthisavari said to his younger brother : ' Let us
go, brother, and seek our fortunes, we shall become like
old women if we live thus.' ' I am willing,' replied the
younger ; so they set out.

They wandered on until they came to a place where two
roads met. One led to the right and one to the left. Tn
the middle of the roads stood a stone pillar, on which was
written : ' Whoever goes to the left will come back, but he
who goes to the right will never return.' Ghvthisavari
took the road to the right and his brother went to the left.
Ghvthisavari said : ' Know that if the water on the roof
changes into blood I shall be in trouble. Come then to

36 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

my aid. If the water on my roof turns into blood, I shall
come and help thee in thy trouble.' Then they divided the
dogs : each took four, said farewell, and set out.

Ghvthisavari went on until he came to the shore of a sea,
so vast that the eye could not measure it. Twelve men
were on this side, twelve on that. Whoever comes to this
sea must jump over ; if he leaps over without wetting his
feet he may marry the king's daughter, who is very beauti-
ful ; if not, he is drowned in the sea ; and whoever dares
not jump at all is seized by the sentinels, and taken before
the king.

Ghvthisavari came, and the sentinels told him the con-
ditions. Ghvthisavari took a spring with all his might and
main, and leaped over so that not a drop of water touched
him. He saw the other sentinels, and they told him that
they must take him before the king. When the king saw
him he rejoiced, and gave him his fair daughter to wife.

That night Ghvthisavari asked his wife : ' Where is the
best hunting to baJiad iathekingdoia ? ',. She replied ^ 'JTf
thou goest to the left thou wilt return ; if thou goest to the
right thou wilt never return.' The next morning Ghvthi-
savari arose at daybreak, took his bow and arrow, and went
to the right hand.

He shot an arrow and killed a hare, he tied its feet and
left it ; he shot another arrow and killed a stag, he bound
its feet together and left it too. He shot a third arrow, and
it stuck in a burning fire.

He went on and on until he reached this fire. Then he
killed a stag, put it on the fire, and sat down at the side.
He roasted meat, ate some, and gave some to his dogs.
Behold, no one knows whence, a toothJess -©Id- w-oman
appeared^ SKe~Beggea-GhvthisJcvan"to give her something

GHVTHISAVARI 37

to eat. He did so; he ate, but the old woman ate
ten times more. For every mouthful Ghvthisavari took
she took a basketful. Ghvthisavari looked on in amaze-
ment. The old woman finished all the food. Then she
took a little stone and threw it at Ghvthisavari's bow'and
arrow. __They turned into stone, and fell on the grouiid.
Then she took the little stone and threw it at the dogs,
who also became petrified. She took them one by one in
her hand and swallowed them. Ghvthisavari was stupefied ;
he seized his bow and arrow to kill the old woman, but
he could not move it ; it fell to earth. Then the old
woman_ tjirned her stone towards Ghvthisavari, who lost his
strength, and became as a corpse. The old woman lifted
him up in her hand and swallowed him. At that moment
the water changed to blood, and the younger brother knew
that Ghvthisavari had fallen into misfortune, and set out to
help him.

When he had gone some way he came to the water's edge,
on each side of which stood the twelve sentinels. He leaped
across. The sentinels . wjere, surprised, they, thought it was
Ghvthisavari, and asked him whence he came and whither
he~was^going. The youth told them nothing, and did not
leFrhem know who he was. He came to the king. That
night he was given his brother's^ wife, but when he lay down
he put T sword between them, and did not toucli her.
Then he asked her : ' Where is the best hunting ? ' She
replied : ' If thou goest to the left thou wilt return, if to the
right thou wilt never return. Do not go ; did I not tell thee
the same thing yesterday ? ' 'I asked thee, and I went one
way, but did not like it'; now I ask thee again,' said the
youth. He rose the next morning, and went to the right
hand.

38 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

When he had gone a little way he saw the dead hare
with its feet bound ; he went on further and saw the dead
stag with its feet bound. He said to himself : ' My brother
must have come this way ; this is some of the game he has
killed.' He again went on, and saw the fire burning.
Beside it lay Ghvthisavari's bow and arrow, and he said to
himself : ' Here my brother has met his fate.' Then he
killed some game and roasted it on the fire.

There appeared, no one knows whence, the same old
woman. She sat down and waited for her share of roast
meat. In eating, the old woman's behaviour was the same
as before. When she had finished the food she was still
hungry. She took a little stone, and lifted it to throw at
the dogs. The jouth thought to himselfj^^^JtjiiusLhave
been in this way that this old woman swallowed my brother
Ghvthisavari.' He seized the old woman by the throat,
cleft her breast open, and took out Ghvthisavari and his
dogs. Then he killed,.the.-old.jKQiaant.ajn,d_j)oure^^
bloo(i over Ghythisavari, the dogs, and the .bQH_and arrow.
Ghvthisavari and his dogs"'came back to life, and the bow
and arrow were raised from the earth. When Ghvthisavari
woke to copseiQUSaess he_ said : '-Ugh ! I- have, had- "SneS
a dream.' " ThenTusT^rother said : ' Thou hast not dreamt ';
and he told him what had happened.

Ghvthisavari rejoiced, and they both went to their new
kinsman, the king. On the way, Ghvthisavari was very
melancholy, for he thought that his brother must have
married his wife. His brother looked at him and said :
' May this arrow strike me on the part of my body that
has touched thy wife, and kill me.' Thus spoke Ghvthi-
savari's brother, and threw up an arrow. It fell, .siffiS'^
him in the little finger^ and be died.

THE SERPENT AND PEASANT 39

Ghvthisavari left his brother, went in, and, when he had

learnt all, was deeply grieved. He went, no one knows

where, foynd injinortal water, and brought his brother

back to life. Then he found him a fair wife,

and they dwelt together, happy in fraternal

affection and, in love.

VII

The Serpent and the Peasant

THERE was once a happy king. Great or small, maid
or man, every one was happy in his kingdom, every
one was joyful and glad.

Once this monarch saw a vision. In his dream there
hung from the ceiling in his house a fox suspended by the
tail. He awoke, he could not see what the dream signified.
He assembled his viziers, but they also could not divine
what this dream presaged.

Then he said : ' Assemble all my kingdom together, per-
haps some one may interpret it.' On the third day all
the people of his kingdom assembled in the king's palace.
Among others came a poor peasant.

In one place he had to travel along a footpath. The
path on both sides was shut in by rocky mountains. When
the peasant arrived there, he saw a serpent lying on the
path, stretching its neck and putting out its tongue.

When the peasant went near, the serpent called out :
' Good day, where art thou going, peasant ? ' The peasant
told what was the matter. The serpent said : ' Do not
fear him, give me thy word that what the king gives, thou
wilt share with me, and I will teach thee.' The peasant

40 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

rejoiced, gave his word, and swore, saying : ' I will bring
thee all that the king presents to me if thou wilt aid me in
this matter.' The serpent said : ' I shall divide it in halves,
half will be thine; when thou seest the king, say : " The fox
meant this, that in the kingdom there is cunning, hypocrisy,
and treachery." '

The peasant went, he approached the king, and told
even what the serpent had taught. The king was very
much pleased, and gave great presents. The peasant did
not return by that way, so that he might not share with the
serpent, but went by another path.

Some time passed by, the king saw another vision : in
his dream a naked sword hung suspended from the roof.
The king this time sent a man quickly for the peasant, and
asked him to come. The peasant was very uneasy in mind.
There was nothing for it, the peasant went by the same
footpath as before.

He came to that place where he saw the serpent before,
but now he saw the serpent there no more. He cried out :
'O serpent, come here one moment, I need thee.' He
ceased not until the serpent came. It said: 'What dost
thou want ? what distresses thee ? ' The peasant answered :
' Thus and thus is the matter, and I should like some aid.'
The serpent replied : ' Go, tell the king that the naked
sword means war — now enemies are intriguing within and
without ; he must prepare for battle and attack.'

The peasant thanked the serpent and went. He came
and told the king even as the serpent had commanded.
The king was pleased, he began to prepare for war, and
gave the peasant great presents. Now the peasant went by
that path where the serpent was waiting. The serpent said :
' Now give me the half thou hast promised.' The peasant

THE SERPENT AND PEASANT 41

replied: 'Half, certainly not! I shall give thee a black
stone and a burning cinder.' He drew out his sword and
pursued it. The serpent retreated into a hole, but the
peasant followed it, and cut off its tail with his sword.

Some time passed, and the king again saw a vision. In
this vision a slain sheep was hanging from the roof. The
king sent a man quickly for the peasant. The peasant was
now very much afraid. And he said : ' How can I approach
the king ? ' Formerly the serpent had taught him, but now
it could no longer do this ; for its goodness he had wounded
it with the sword.

Nevertheless, he went by that footpath. When he came
to the place where the serpent had been, he cried out : ' O
serpent, come here one moment, I want to ask thee some-
thing.' The serpent came. The man told his grief. The
serpent said : ' If thou givest me half of what the king
gives thee, I shall tell thee.' He promised and swore.
The serpent said : ' This is a sign that now everywhere
peace falls on all, the people are become like quiet, gentle
sheep.'

The peasant thanked it, and went his way. When he
came to the king, he spoke as the serpent had instructed
him. The king was exceedingly pleased, and gave him
greater presents. The peasant returned by the way where
the serpent was waiting. He came to the serpent, diyided
everything he had received from the king, and said : ' Thou
hast been patient with me, and now I will give thee even
what was given me before by the king.' He humtjly asked
forgiveness for his former offences. The serpent said : ' Be
not grieved nor troubled ; it certainly was not thy fault.
The first time, when all the people were entirely deceitful,
and there was treachery and hypocrisy in the land, thou

42 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

too wert a deceiver, for, in spite of thy promise, thou

wentest home by another way. The second time, when

there was war everywhere, quarrels and assassination, thou,

too, didst quarrel with me, and cut off my tail. But now,

when peace and love have fallen on all, thou bringest the

gifts, and sharest all with me. Go, brother, may the

peace of God rest with thee! I do not want

thy wealth.' And the serpent went away and

cast itself into its hole.

VIII

Gulambara and Sulambara

THERE was and there was not at all, there was a
blind monarch; all the doctors in the kingdom
had been applied to, but the king could not be cured.

At last one doctor said : ' In a certain sea is a fish red
as blood. If this is caught, killed, and its blood sprinkled
on your eyes, it may do good — the light will come back
into your eyes — if not, there can be no other cure for you.'

Then the king assembled every fisherman in his realm,
and commanded : ' Go wherever it may be or may not be,
catch such a fish as this, and I shall give you a rich
reward.'

Some time passed by. An old fisherman caught just
such a crimson fish, and took it to the king. The king
was asleep, and they did not dare to wake him, so they
put the fish into a basin full of water.

Just then his son returned from his lessons. He saw the
blood-red fish swimming in the basin. He took it up in

GULAMBARA AND SULAMBARA 43

his hands, caressed it, and said : ' What do you want with
the pretty fish in the basin ? ' They said to him : ' This is
good for your father, it must be killed, its blood sprinkled
on his eyes, and he will regain his sight.' ' But is it not a
sin to kill it?' asked the prince; and he took the fish out
to a stream in the meadow, and gave it freedom.

A little while after, the king awoke ; his viziers said to
him : ' An old fisherman brought to you a blood-red fish,
but your son, who had just returned from his lessons, let it
away.'

The king was very angry, and sent his son from the
house. 'Go hence, I shall be well when thou art no
longer remembered in the kingdom ; with my eyes I can-
not look upon thee, but never let me hear thine un-
pleasant voice again.' The boy was grieved, rose, and went
away.

He went, he went, and he knew not whither he went.
On the way he saw a stream. He was weary and sat down
to rest on the bank. Behold, a boy of his own age came
out of the water. He came to the prince, greeted him, and
said : ' Whence comest thou ? and what troubles thee ? '
The prince went to him and told him all that had happened
to him. His new acquaintance said : ' I also am discon-
tented with my lot, so let us become brothers, and live
together.' The prince agreed, and they went on their
way.

They travelled on some distance, when they came to a
town, and they dwelt there. When the next day dawned,
his adopted brother said to the prince : ' Stay thou at home,
do not go out of doors, lest they eat thee, for such is the
custom here.' The prince promised, and from morning
until night he sat indoors. The other boy was away in the

44 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

town all day. At twilight, when he came home, he had a
handkerchief quite full of provisions.

Several days slipped by. The prince stayed in all day,
and his brother brought the food and drink. At last the
prince said to himself : ' This is shameful ! My adopted
brother goes out and brings in food and drink. Why do I
not do something ? What an idle fellow I am ! I will go
and do something ! '

And so it happened that one day the king's son went
into the town; he wandered here and there, and in one
place saw his brother, who was sitting cross-legged on the
ground, at his feet was stretched a pocket handkerchief, in
his hand he held a chonguri (a stringed instrument), which
he played, and he chanted to it with a sweet voice. Who-
ever passed by placed money in the handkerchief.

The king's son listened and listened, and said : ' No,
this must not be ; this is not my business.' So he turned
and went back.

Near there he saw a tower. Outside was a wall, and on
the top were arranged in rows men's heads : some were
quite shrivelled up, some had an unpleasant odour of decay,
and some had just been placed there.

He looked and looked, and could not understand what
it meant. He asked a man : ' Whose tower is this, and
why are men's heads arranged in rows in this way ? ' He
was told : ' In this tower dwells a maide," ^".''utiful as the
sun. Any king's son may ask her in mar'riage. Che asks
him a question : if he cannot answer it his head is cut off,
but if he can he may demand her in marriage. No one
has yet been able to answer her question.'

The prince thought and thought, and said to himself : ' I
will go. I will ask this maiden in marriage : I will know if

GULAMBARA AND SULAMBARA 45

this is my fate. What is to be will be. What can she ask
me that I shall not know ? ' So he rose and went.

He came to the sunlike maiden and asked her in mar-
riage. She answered : ' It is well, but first I have a question
to ask thee ; if thou canst answer, then I am thine, if not,
I shall cut off thy head.' ' So let it be,' said the prince.
' I ask thee this. Who are Gulambara and Sulambara ? '
enquired the beautiful maiden. The king's son said to
himself : ' I know indeed that Gulambara and Sulambara
are names of flowers, but I never heard in all my life of
human beings thus named.' He asked three days grace and
went away.

He went home and told his brother what had happened,
and said : ' If thou canst not help me now, in three days I
shall lose my head.' His brother reproached him, saying :
' Did I not tell thee to stay indoors ? This is a wicked
town.' But then he comforted him, saying : ' Go now, buy
a pennyworth of aromatic gum and a candle. I have a
grandmother, I shall take thee to her, and she will help
thee. But at the moment when my grandmother looks at
us, give her the gum and the candle, or she will eat thee.'

He bought the gum and the candle, and they set out.
The grandmother was standing in her doorway ; the prince
immediately gave her the gum and the candle. ' What is
it ? what is the matter with thee ? ' enquired the grand-
mother of the prince's adopted brother. He came forward,
and told everything in detail. Then he added : ' This is
my good brother, and certainly thou shouldst help him.'
' Very well,' said the old woman to the prince; ' sit down on
my back.' The prince seated himself on her back. The
old woman flew up high, and then, in the twinkling of an
eye, she flew down into the depths.

46 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

She took him into a town there, and went to the entrance
of a bazaar. She pointed out a shopkeeper and said : ' Go
and engage thyself as assistant to this shopkeeper ; but in
the evening, when he leaves business and goes home, tell
him that he must take thee with him, and must not leave
thee in the shop. Where thou goest with him thou wilt
learn the story of Gulambara and Sulambara. Then when
thou hast need of me, whistle and I shall be there.'

The prince did exactly as the old woman had instructed
him ; he went to the butcher, as his assistant. At twilight,
when the butcher spoke of going home, the prince said to
him : ' Do not leave me here ; I am a stranger in this land.
I am afraid ; take me with thee.' The butcher objected
strongly, but the prince entreated him until he agreed.

The butcher went home, and took the prince with him.
They came to a wall, opened a door, went in, and it closed.
Inside that, was another wall ; they went through that, and
it closed. They passed thus through nine walls, and then
they entered a house. The butcher opened a cupboard
door, took out a woman's head, and then an iron whip. He
put down the decaying head and struck it. He struck and
struck until the head was completely gone.

When the prince saw this he was astonished, and en-
quired : ' Tell me, why do you strike this head that is so
mutilated, and whose head is this ? ' The butcher made
answer : ' I tell this to no one, this is my secret, but if I
do tell any one he must then lose his head.' ' I still wish to
know,' said the prince. The butcher rose, took a sword,
prepared himself, and said to the prince. ' I had a wife
who was so lovely that she excelled the sun ; her name
was Gulambara. I kept her under these nine locks, and I
took care of her so that not even the wind of heaven blew

GULAMBARA AND SULAMBARA 47

on her. Whatever she asked me I gave her at once. I
loved her to distraction, and trusted her, and she told me
that she loved no one in the world but me. At that time I
had an assistant who was called Sulambara, and my wife
loved him and deceived me. Once I found them together,
and seized them. I locked one in one cupboard and the
other in another. Whenever I came home from business I
went to the cupboards, and took out first one and then the
other, and beat them as hard as I could. I struck so hard
that Sulambara crumbled away yesterday, and only Gulam-
bara's head remained, and that has just now crumbled away
before thine eyes.'

The story ended, he took his sword and said to the
prince : ' Now I am going to fulfil my threat, so come here
and I shall cut off thy head.' The prince entreated him :
' Give me a little time. I will go to the door and pray to
my God, and then do to me even as thou wishest.' The
butcher thought : ' It can do no harm to let him go to the
door for a short time, for he certainly cannot open the nine
doors ; let him pray to his God and have his wish.'

The prince went to the gate and whistled. Immediately
the old woman flew down, took him on her back, and flew
off. The youth went to the town where the beautiful
maiden dwelt, and told the sunlike one the story of Gulam-
bara and Sulambara. The maiden was very much sur-
prised ; when she had heard all, she agreed to marry him.
They were married ; she collected all her worldly posses-
sions, and set out with the prince for his father's kingdom.

When he came to the brook, his adopted brother appeared
before him, and said : ' In thy trouble I befriended thee,
and now, when thou art happy, shall this friendship cease ?
Whatever thou hast obtained has been by my counsel.

48 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

therefore thou shouldst share it with me.' The prince
divided everything in halves, but still his adopted brother
was not pleased. ' It is all very well to share this with me,
whilst thou hast the beautiful maiden.' The prince arose
and gave up his own share of the goods.

His adopted brother would not take it, and spoke thus :
' If thou boldest fast to our friendship thou shouldst share
with me this maiden, the most precious of thy possessions ! '
As he said this he seized the maiden's hand, bound her to
a tree, stretched forth his sword, and, as he was about to
strike, a green stream flowed from the terror-stricken
maiden's mouth. Again the youth raised his sword. The
same thing happened. A third time he prepared to
strike, with the same result. Then he came, unbound her
from the tree, gave her to the prince, and said : ' Although
this maiden was beautiful, yet she was venomous, and,
sooner or later, would have killed thee. Now whatever
poison was in her is completely gone, so do not fear her in
the slightest degree.^ Go ! and God guide thee. As for
these possessions, they are thine; I do not want them.
May God give thee His peace.' From his pocket he took
out a handkerchief, gave it to the prince, and said : ' Take
this handkerchief with thee ; when thou reachest home wipe
thy father's eyes with it and he will see. I am the fish that
was in the basin, and thou didst set me free. Know, then,
that kindness of heart is never lost.' So saying, the prince's
adopted brother disappeared.

The prince remained astonished. Before he had time
to express his gratitude the young man had suddenly
disappeared. At last, when he had recovered himself, he

' Cf. Paspati, £tudes sur les Tchinghianh (Constantinople, 1870),
p. 60s, Conte 2"n=-

THE TWO BROTHERS 49

took his wife and went to his father. He laid the handker-
chief on the king's eyes, and his sight came back to him.
When he saw his only son and his beautiful daughter-
in-law his joy was so great that his eyes filled with
tears. His son sat down and told him all that
had happened since he left him.

IX

The Two Brothers

ONCE upon a time there were two brothers. Each
of them possessed ten loaves of bread ; and they
said : ' Let us go and seek our fortune.' So they arose and
went forth.

When they had gone a little way they were hungry. One
brother said to the other : ' Come, let us eat thy bread
first, then we can eat mine.' And he agreed, and they
took of his loaves and did eat, and they afterwards went on
their way.

And they travelled for some time in this manner. At
last, when these ten loaves were finished, the brother
who had first spoken said : ' Now, my brother, thou canst
go thy way and I shall go mine. Thou hast no loaves left,
and I will not let thee eat my bread.' So saying, he left
him to continue his journey alone.

He went on and on, and came to a mill in a thick
forest. He saw the miller and said : ' For the love of God,
let me stay here to-night.' The miller answered : ' Brother,
it is a very terrible thing to be here at night ; as thou seest,
even I go elsewhere. Presently wild beasts will assemble
in the wood, and probably come here.' ' Have no fear

D

50 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

for me ; I shall stay here. The beasts cannot kill me,'
answered the boy. The miller tried to persuade him not to
endanger his life, but when he found his arguments were of
no avail he rose and went home. The boy crept inside the
hopper of the mill.

There appeared, from no one knows where, a big bear ;
he was followed by a wolf, then a jackal ; and they all
made a great noise in the mill. They leaped and bounded
just as if they were having a dance. He was terrified, and,
trembling from fear, he lay down, quaking all over, in the
hopper. At last the bear said : ' Come, let each of us tell
something he has seen or heard.' ' We shall tell our tales,
but you must begin,' cried his companions. The bear said :
' Well, on a hill that I know dwells a mouse. This mouse
has a great heap of money, which it spreads out when the
sun shines. If any one knew of this mouse's hole, and
went there on a sunny day, when the money is spread out,
and struck the mouse with a twig, and killed it, he would
become possessed of great wealth.'

' That is not wonderful ! ' said the wolf. ' I know a certain
town where there is no water, and every mouthful has to be
carried a great distance, and an enormous price is paid for
it ! The inhabitants do not know that in the centre of
their town, under a certain stone, is beautiful, pure water.
Now, if any one knew of this, and would roll away that stone,
he would obtain great wealth.'

'That is nothing,' said the jackal. 'I know of a king
who has one only daughter, and she has been an invalid for
three years. Quite a simple remedy would cure her : if she
were bathed in a bath of beech leaves she would be healed.
You have no idea what a fortune any one would get if he
only knew this.'

THE TWO BROTHERS 51

When they had spoken thus, day began to dawn. The
bear, the wolf, and the jackal went away into the wood.
The boy came out of the hopper, gave thanks to God, and
went to the mouse's hole, of which the bear had spoken.

He arrived, and saw that the story was true. There was
the mouse with the money spread out. He stole up noise-
lessly, and, taking twigs in his hand, he struck the mouse
until he had killed it, and then gathered up the money.
Then he went to the waterless town, rolled away the stone,
and behold ! streams of water flowed forth. He received
a reward for this, and set out for the kingdom of which
the jackal had spoken. He arrived, and enquired of the
king : ' What wilt thou give me if I cure thy daughter ? '
The king replied : ' If thou canst do this I will give thee my
daughter to wife.' The youth prepared the remedy^ made
the princess bathe in it, and she was cured. The king
rejoiced greatly, gave him the maiden in marriage, and
appointed him heir to the kingdom.

This story reached the ears of the youth's brother. He
went on and on, and it came to pass that he found his
brother. He asked him : ' How and by what cunning has
this happened ? ' The fortunate youth told him all in detail.
' I also shall go and stay at that mill a night or two.' His
brother used many entreaties to dissuade him, and when he
would not listen, said : ' Well, go if thou wilt, but I warn
thee again it is very dangerous.' However, he would not be
persuaded, and went away. He crept into the hopper, and
was there all night.

From some place or other arrived the former guests —
the bear, the wolf, and the jackal. The bear said : ' That
day when I told you my story the mouse was killed, and the
money all taken away.' The wolf said : ' And the stone was

52 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

rolled away in the waterless town of which I spoke.'
' And the king's daughter was cured,' added the jackal.
'Then perhaps some one was listening when we talked
here,' said the bear. ' Perhaps some one is here now,'
shrieked his companions. ' Then let us go and look ; cer-
tainly no one shall listen again,' said the three ; and they
looked in all the corners. They sought and sought
everywhere. At last the bear looked into the hopper,
and saw the trembling boy. He dragged
him out and tore him to pieces.

The Prince

THERE was once a king who had great possessions,
but his wife had no children, and he was a prey
to grief.

One day when he was very melancholy a courtier came
to him and said : ' Most mighty monarch ! thou hast no
son, and thou givest no gifts ; what will thy subjects think
of thee ? What wilt thou do with this wealth stored up by
thee ? ' The king took these words to heart ; the next day
he gave a great feast, and scattered alms lavishly.

From no one knows where there appeared at that time
an old woman. She came to the king and said : ' What
wilt thou give me if I bring thee a son ? ' The king
replied : ' Whatever thou askest of me, that will I give thee.'
The old woman drew forth from her pocket an apple,
which she cut in three and gave to the king, saying, ' Let
thy wife eat this, and she will have three children; but,
remember, I shall come back in seven years and thou must

THE PRINCE S3

give me thy youngest son.' The king consented, gave his
wife the apple, and she ate it.

Some time passed, and the queen bore three sons, and
the youngest was the most beautiful of all. The king could
not bear to think that he must give him up. He said to
himself : ' I shall put him behind nine locks, and when the
old woman comes, I shall tell her that my youngest son is
dead, but that she can take the two elder if she wishes.'

After seven years the old woman came, and demanded
of the king his youngest son. He did just as he had
planned. He locked up his youngest son behind nine
locks, and said to the old woman : ' My youngest son is
dead, but here are the other two, take them.' The old
woman would not believe him. She searched every corner
of the palace, opened the nine locks, and took away the
young prince. She went homeward, and took him with her.

When they had gone a little way, they came to a brook
where they found an old woman washing dirty linen. When
she saw the beautiful prince she called him back, and
said sadly to him : ' Dost thou know thou art being led
into misfortune? Why dost thou go with that witch?
Thou certainly canst not escape alive from her hands ! '
When the prince heard this, he went to the witch and
said : ' Let me go and have a word with this old woman.
I shall overtake thee in a minute.' The witch let him go.

The prince went back to his own home, filled a cup with
water, and placed it near the fire. Having done this, he
said: 'When that water changes to blood, I shall be
dead, but as long as it is pure I shall be alive.' Then he
went away, quickly overtook the witch, and they went on
together.

At last they arrived in a dark ravine ; the home of the

54 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

witch was there in a rocky cave. In the house she had
three daughters and two horses — one for herself and one
for her daughters. The old woman went in, entrusted the
prince to her daughters' care, and fell asleep.

Now this old witch had a habit of sleeping for seven days
and nights, and it was impossible to rouse her.

When her daughters saw the prince they admired him
very much, and said : ' It is a shame that so handsome a
boy should be destroyed ! Come, our mother shall not
have him to eat ; we must help him to escape in some way.'
' We will ! ' cried the sisters ; and they thought of a plan of
escape.

The eldest sister gave him her comb, and said : ' When
my mother overtakes thee, throw this behind thee and
hasten on ; a thick forest will spring up between thee and
my mother, who will have difficulty in passing through it.'

The second sister gave him a pair of scissors, and said :
' When my mother overtakes thee, throw these scissors
behind thee — jagged rocks, hard as adamant, will rise
between thee and my mother, who will have difficulty in
crossing them, but hasten thou on.'

The youngest sister gave him a lump of salt, and said :
' When my mother overtakes thee, throw this behind thee
— between you will roll a sea, which my mother will never
cross.' Then they carefully saddled their own steed, gave
the youth everything he wanted, and sent him away. He
thanked them heartily and set out.

Seven days passed. The witch awoke, and looked for
her dinner, but it was no longer there. She went to her
steed and enquired of it, ' Shall we eat bread or shall we
set out at once ? ' ' Whether we eat bread or not we can-
not overtake him,' said the steed to the witch. She did

THE PRINCE 55

not abandon her intention, but, having eaten bread,
mounted her horse and set off in pursuit of the prince.

After riding some distance she overtook him. The
prince looked back, and, seeing the old woman approach,
drew the comb from his pocket and threw it down behind
him. Between them, there rose a forest so thick that even
a fly could not go through it. The old woman was annoyed
and hindered, but at last, in some way or other, she passed
through it.

When she reached the open country she spurred her
horse on with might and main, and again approached the
prince, who looked behind and saw the old woman. He
took the scissors from his pocket, and threw them down.
Between them appeared a jagged rock, hard as steel, so that
no iron could cut it ; the horse cut its feet, and, not being
able to go any further, fell down ; yet the old woman would
not give in. She jumped from the horse's back and went
forward on foot. She passed the rocks, reached the plain
again, and hastened on.

She flew over the ground as if she had wings. The
prince looked back, and saw how near the old woman was.
He took the piece of salt from his pocket, and threw it
behind him. There flowed between them a sea so vast
that no bird could cross it. The old woman was not
daunted, even by this, she waded into the sea, determined
to cross it, but she was drowned.

The prince often looked behind, but he could no longer
see the old woman. Then his heart was filled with joy,
and he went on gaily. He himself knew not whither he
went. He grew hungry and more hungry, until he was
ravenous.

At last he saw a fire : he went up, and there was burning

S6 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

a huge fire, over which hung a kettle of arrack, and food
cooking ; around it lay nine devis, who were brothers.
They were fast asleep, but there was a lame one watching
as sentinel. The prince did not wait to ask leave of the
devis; he came up, lifted the pot off the fire, took some
food, and when he had eaten, put the pot back. He then
lay down and began to snore loudly. The lame devi
looked on with amazement from a distance.

A short time afterwards a devi awoke. He looked round
and saw a human being sleeping there. He said joyfully :
This will be a dainty morsel for us,' and went towards the
boy. But the lame devi followed him and said : ' Leave
him alone, lay not a hand upon him ; he is to be feared —
just now he took our pot from the fire, ate some food,
and placed it on the fire again ; he has done alone what
is difficult for us ten. ' The devi thought better of it, and
turned away.

A second devi then rose and did the same, but the lame
devi prevented him. As each devi awoke he went to the
boy, but the lame devi took care of them.

When all the devis were roused and had begun to eat,
the prince woke up too. He came to the devis and asked
them to swear brotherhood. The devis said : ' Who art
thou, who art so courageous ? What brought thee here ? '
The prince answered : ' I was hungry, I saw the fire and I
came to the fire.' Then the devis said : 'Very well, if thou
wishest us to swear brotherhood with thee, first go till thou
findest cross roads, there a maiden spreads out a handker-
chief; if thou seizest this handkerchief and bringest it
here, we shall swear brotherhood with thee ; if thou failest,
thou art none of us. Many have tried to take this hand-
kerchief, but the maiden always kills them.' The devis

THE PRINCE 57

thought that the prince would be killed too, and that they
would thus get rid of him.

The prince set out and came to the cross roads, and,
behold, a beautiful maiden flew down ; a handkerchief was
spread out in front of her, and hid her from his eyes.
The prince came up and seized the handkerchief, but just
as he was going away, the maiden attacked him. The
prince was victorious in the fight. After the combat a
golden slipper was left in the prince's hand.

He came to the devis with the handkerchief, and gave
them the golden slipper, saying : ' Go to the town, change
this for money, and bring it home.'

The devis sent the lame devi with the golden slipper.
When he reached the town^he met a merchant, to whom he
showed the slipper. The merchant complained and said :
' My wife had golden slippers, thou must have stolen this
one.' The devi said that they had found the slipper — he
swore, but the merchant would not believe him. He took
the slippgj^a'sd locked up the lame devi.

For a'tong time the other devis waited for their lame
brother; they watched, but no lame devi was to be seen.
Then they sent the ninth brother to seek him. When he
arrived in the town where the devi had gone to exchange
the golden slipper, he enquired after his lame brother.
Hearing him ask for a lame devi, they said : ' This must be
an accomplice of the thief,' and they locked him up too.

The remaining devis waited for their ninth brother, and
when they saw that he did not come, the eighth was sent,
but he also was taken ; then the seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth,
third, second, and at last the first devi went, but none of
them returned.

The prince said to himself : ' What can have happened

S8 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

to these devtst I will go and seek them, and perchance
find out what misfortune has overtaken them.' So he
arose and went forth.

The merchant heard some one was again asking for the
lame devi, and wished to entrap him, but the prince said :
' If I do not find the neighbour to the golden slipper, thou
mayst call us liars, and do what thou wilt to the devis and
me ; but if I find it thou hast lied, and we shall do what
we wish to thee.' ' Agreed ! ' said the merchant, and the
prince went forth to seek the other golden slipper.

He travelled far, and came at last to a kingdom by the
seashore. This kingdom was ruled by a maiden, fair as
the sun. Whoever came to that kingdom to sell wheat was
met by the maiden, who cast the wheat and its owner into
the sea, and there was no escape.

When the prince heard of this, he said to himself : ' I
shall bring wheat to this country, and see what the fair one
can do.' He went for the wheat, and filled a boat with
grain, seated himself in another boat, and set out for the
kingdom. On nearing the shore there appeared, from no
one knows where, a beautiful damsel. She stretched out
her hand, and was about to sink the grain, when the prince
struck the boat with his foot and upset it. Then he seized
the maiden's hand and drew her towards him. She, seeing
that she was outwitted, pulled with all her might, and
escaped from his hands, but left her rings behind her.

Thus was the maiden defeated. After this, whoever
wished to bring wheat brought it^ and there was plenty in
that kingdom.

The people of the country fell down and kissed the
knees of the prince, saying : ' We beseech thee, be our
king.' But he would not, and replied : ' I am come on

THE PRINCE 59

other business, I wish for nothing but to find a certain
sHpper,' and he told his tale. The slipper could not be
found, so he arose and left that land.

He went on again and came into another country. Here
he learnt that a beautiful maiden had killed the king's son,
who was buried in a vault. Every night the maiden came
there and beat him with twigs. When she did this he
came back to life, they supped together, and passed the
time merrily until morning, when she again beat him with
twigs. Then he became a corpse, and she flew away.

When the prince heard this tale, he went to aid the
unfortunate youth. He entered the tomb and waited.
Behold, a lovely damsel flew down, took twigs from her
pocket, and beat the king's son until he came back to life ;
they supped and made merry until morning. As she was
about to beat the youth and kill him again, the prince
snatched the twigs from her hand ; so the king's son lived.
Then the prince took him away, and led him to his father.

Here, too, the prince was offered the throne, but he did
not wish to be king. ' If I could find a certain golden
slipper, I should be happy,' said he ; ' I must go forth and
seek it.' And he set forth on his quest again.

When he had gone some way, he came to a wide plain.
He presently saw_ a beautiful house, and said to himself :
'I wonder who livc^ ■'.here,' and he went on towards the
house. On the way he saw an Arab feeding some mules,
and said : ' Canst thou tell me whose house that is,
brother?' The Arab looked round about and replied:
' Shall I swallow thee head first or feet first ? ' 'I asked
thee about the house, why wilt thou not answer ? ' said the
prince. Again the Arab stared round and said : ' Shall I
swallow thee by the head or by the feet ? ' ' As to the

6o GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

matter of swallowing, I shall soon show thee what I shall
do,' said the prince, giving the Arab such a blow that it
sent him over nine mountains. Then he struck the mules,
and went to the house.

He wandered all round it, and was much delighted with
its appearance. Then he went inside through a window,
and visited every room. In one of these he saw a golden
throne, and on it were golden slippers like the one he
sought. He said to himself : ' Perhaps this is the house of
the fair damsel who gave me the slipper. I shall wait and
see what happens.' He sat under the throne and waited.

Soon after, there flew in a beautiful maiden, then another,
yet a third, and at last the Arab. They sat down to eat.
In the twinkling of an eye the Arab laid the cloth for the
sisters, and whatever heart or soul could wish was spread
upon it.

After a short time the eldest sister took wine and said :
' May God grant long life to the youth who took from me
the handkerchief and the golden slipper.' She drank, and
put the bowl down.

Then the second sister took it and said : ' Long life to
the youth who snatched the rings from my hand, and gave
wheat to a kingdom.' She drank, and put the bowl down.

Then the youngest sister took it and said : ' Long life to
the youth who took the twigs from my hand, and restored
life to a prince.' She drank, and put the bowl down.

At last the Arab took the wine and said : ' Long life to
the youth who gave me a blow, and sent me over nine
mountains.' He drank, and put the bowl down.

Then the prince appeared from under the throne, took
the wine and said : ' I have also toasts to propose. May
God grant long life to the maiden from whom I took the

THE PRINCE 6i

handkerchief.' He took from his pocket the handkerchief
and gave it to the eldest sister. ' May God grant long life
to the maiden from whom I took the rings,' and he gave
the rings to the second sister. ' May God grant long life
to the maiden from whom I took the twigs.' He returned
the twigs to the youngest sister, and turning to the Arab,
he said : ' May God grant long life to the Arab whom I
struck and sent over nine mountains.' He drank, and put
down the bowl.

Then the three sisters jumped up and said : ' He will
marry me.' ' No ! me.' And they began to quarrel. The
prince said : ' Wherefore quarrel one with another ? I shall
wed the youngest sister, since I am the youngest of three
brothers, and you elder shall wed my elder brothers.' The
maidens asked him: 'What is the object of thy journey
hither ? ' ' To seek for the other golden slipper, and lo ! I
have found it here,' answered the prince. ' Because of this
slipper, nine brothers, devis, are imprisoned in a certain
town, and if I return without it, I, too, shall be imprisoned
to-day with them.' ' This slipper is thine, and as many more
as thou wishest, take them with thee, seat thyself on the
Arab's back, and in three hours thou wilt be in the town,'
said the sisters.

The prince did as they told him. He filled a bag with
golden slippers, sat on the Arab's back, and in three hours
he was in the town.

The devis rejoiced greatly. They called the merchant,
and he brought slippers. He took one by one his own
shppers, but, behold, not one of them would fit the golden
slipper. Then, when the prince produced his bagful of
golden slippers, the merchant was proved a liar.

The prince gave the merchant into the hands of the devis,

62 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

and said : ' Do to him what ye please, sell all his posses-
sions, but I must go at once on my way.' When the devis
heard this, they begged him to stay with them. But he
would not consent.

The prince came to the three beautiful sisters, and
married the youngest. The sisters gave the Arab a saddle
bag in which was everything for the journey, placed in his
hand a tree, and said : ' Go to the kingdom of the prince's
father, and when thou art near the palace, in such and such
a place, plant this tree. It will turn into a great plane
tree, and underneath, a beautiful stream will flow ; there, on
the banks of the stream, lay the cloth, and prepare every-
thing for our coming.'

The Arab did everything as he was commanded. Then
the maidens came. Every man and woman in the kingdom
heard of this, and went out to look at them. The parents
were mourning for their long-lost son.

The cup of water had not changed to blood, but they
had given up all hope of finding him. At last they could
stand it no longer, and they too went to see the maidens.

When the prince saw his mother and father approach,

he feigned surprise, and asked why they mourned. They

answered that they had lost a son, and therefore they

mourned. The prince said : ' I am your long-lost son.'

The king and queen rejoiced, and took him home.

They prepared such a wedding that the roof of

the palace resounded with merriment.

CONKIAJGHARUNA 63

XI

Conkiajgharuna ^

THERE was and there was not, there was a miserable
peasant. He had a wife and a little daughter.
So poor was this peasant that his daughter was called
Conkiajgharuna (the little girl in rags).

Some time passed, and his wife died. He was unhappy
before, but now a greater misfortune had befallen him.
He grieved and grieved, and at last he said to himself : ' I
will go and take another wife; she will mind the house,
and tend my orphan child.' So he arose and took a second
wife, but this wife brought with her a daughter of her own.
When this woman came into her husband's house and saw
his child, she was angry in heart.

She treated Conkiajgharuna badly. She petted her own
daughter, but scolded her stepdaughter, and tried to get
rid of her. Every day she gave her a piece of badly-cooked
bread, and sent her out to watch the cow, saying : ' Here
is a loaf; eat of it, give to every wayfarer, and bring the
loaf home whole.' The girl went, and felt very miserable.

Once she was sitting sadly in the field, and began to
weep bitterly. The cow listened, and then opened its
mouth, and said : ' Why art thou weeping ? what troubles
thee?' The girl told her sad tale. The cow said: 'In
one of my horns is honey, and in the other is butter, which
thou canst take if thou wilt, so why be unhappy?' The
girl took the butter and the honey, and in a short time she
grew plump. When the stepmother noticed this she did not

1 The Georgian Cinderella or Tattercoats. Cf. Miss Roalfe Cox's
Story- Variants of Cinderella for parallels.

64 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

know what to do for rage. She rose, and after that every
day she gave her a basket of wool with her ; this wool was
to be spun and brought home in the evening finished.
The stepmother wished to tire the girl out with toil, so that
she should grow thin and ugly.

Once when Conkiajgharuna was tending the cow, it ran
away on to a roof.^ The girl pursued it, and wished to
drive it back to the road, but she dropped her spindle on
the roof. Looking inside she saw an old woman seated,
and said to her: 'Good mother, wilt thou give me my
spindle ? ' The old dame replied : ' I am not able, my child,
come and take it thyself This old woman was a devi.

The girl went in and was lifting up her spindle, when the
old dame called out : ' Daughter, daughter, come and look
at my head a moment, I am almost eaten up.'

The girl came and looked at her head. She was filled
with horror; all the worms in the earth seemed to be
crawling there. The little girl stroked her head and
removed some, and then said : ' Thou hast a clean head,
why should I look at it ? ' This conduct pleased the old
woman very much, and she said : ' When thou goest hence,
go along such and such a road, and in a certain place thou
wilt see three springs— one white, one black, and one
yellow. Pass by the white and black, and put thy head in
the yellow and lave it with thy hands.'

The girl did this. She went on her way, and came to
the three springs. She passed by the white and black, and
bathed her head with her hands in the yellow fountain.
When she looked up she saw that her hair was quite golden,

' In some parts of the Caucasus the houses of the peasantry are
built in the ground, and it is quite possible to walk on to a roof un-
wittingly.

CONKIAJGHARUNA 65

and her hands, too, shone hke gold. In the evening, when
she went home, her stepmother was filled with fury. After
this she sent her own daughter with the cow. Perhaps the
same good fortune would visit her !

So Conkiajgharuna stayed at home while her stepsister
drove out the cow. Once more the cow ran on to the
roof. The girl pursued it, and her spindle fell down. She
looked in, and, seeing the devi woman, called out : ' Dog of
an old woman ! here ! come and give me my spindle !' The
old woman replied : ' I am not able, child, come and take
it thyself.' When the girl came near, the old woman said :
' Come, child, and look at my head.' The girl came and
looked at her head, and cried out : ' Ugh ! what a horrid
head thou hast ! Thou art a disgusting old woman ! ' The
old woman said : ' I thank thee, my child ; when thou goest
on thy way thou wilt see a yellow, a white, and a black
spring. Pass by the yellow and the white springs, and lave
thy head with thy hands in the black one.'

The girl did this. She passed by the yellow and white
springs, and bathed her head in the black one. When she
looked at herself she was black as a negro, and on her head
there was a horn. She cut it off again and again, but it
grew larger and larger.

She went home and complained to her mother, who was
almost frenzied, but there was no help for it. Her mother
said to herself : ' This is all the cow's fault, so it shall be
killed.'

This cow knew the future. When it learned that it was
to be killed, it went to Conkiajgharuna and said : ' When I
am dead, gather my bones together and bury them in the
earth. When thou art in trouble come to my grave, and
cry aloud : " Bring my steed and my royal robes ! " ' Con-

66 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

kiajgharuna did exactly as the cow had told her. When it
was dead she took its bones and buried them in the earth.

After this, some time passed. One holiday the step-
mother took her daughter, and they went to church. She
placed a trough in front of Conkiajgharuna, spread a codi
(80 lbs.) of millet in the courtyard, and said : ' Before we
come home from church fill this trough with tears, and
gather up this millet, so that not one grain is left.' Then
they went to church.

Conkiajgharuna sat down and began to weep. While
she was crying a neighbour came in and said : ' Why art
thou in tears ? what is the matter ? ' The little girl told her
tale. The woman brought all the brood-hens and chickens,
and they picked up every grain of millet, then she put a lump
of salt in the trough and poured water over it. ' There, child,'
said she, 'these are thy tears ! Now go and enjoy thyself.'

Conkiajgharuna then thought of the cow. She went to
its grave and called out : ' Bring me my steed and my
royal robes ! ' There appeared at once a horse and beauti-
ful clothes. Conkiajgharuna put on the garments, mounted
the horse, and went to the church.

There all the folk began to stare at her. They were
amazed at her grandeur. Her stepsister whispered to her
mother when she saw her : ' This girl is very much like our
Conkiajgharuna ! ' Her mother smiled scornfully and said :
' Who would give that sun-darkener such robes ? '

Conkiajgharuna left the church before any one else ; she
changed her clothes in time to appear before her stepmother
in rags. On the way home, as she was leaping over a
stream, in her haste she let her slipper fall in.

A long time passed. Once when the king's horses were
drinking water in this stream, they saw the shining slipper,

CONKIAJGHARUNA 67

and were so afraid that they would drink no more water.
The king was told that there was something shining in the
stream, and that the horses were afraid.

The king commanded his divers to find out what it was.
They found the golden slipper, and presented it to the
king. When he saw it he commanded his viziers, saying :
' Go and seek the owner of this slipper, for I will wed none
but her.' His viziers sought the maiden, but they could
find no one whom the slipper would fit.

Conkiajgharuna's stepmother heard this, adorned her
daughter, and placed her on a throne. Then she went and
told the king that she had a daughter whose foot he might
look at, it was exactly the model for the shoe. She put
Conkiajgharuna in a corner, with a big basket over her.
AVhen the king came into the house he sat down on the
basket, in order to try on the slipper.

Conkiajgharuna took a needle and pricked the king from
under the basket. He jumped up, stinging with pain, and
asked the stepmother what she had under the basket. The
stepmother replied : ' 'Tis only a turkey I have there.'
The king sat down on the basket again, and Conkiajgharuna
again stuck the needle into him. The king jumped up, and
cried out : ' Lift the basket, I will see underneath ! ' The
stepmother entreated him, saying : ' Do not blame me, your
majesty, it is only a turkey, and it will run away.'

But the king would not listen to her entreaties.
He lifted the basket up, and Conkiajgharuna came
forth, and said : ' This slipper is mine, and fits me well.'

She sat down, and the king found that it was indeed

a perfect fit. Conkiajgharuna became the king's

wife, and her shameless stepmother was left

with a dry throat.

68 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

XII

Asphurtzela ^

THERE was, and there was not at all (of God's best
may it be !), there was once a woman. This
woman's husband had died young, and left her four little
children : three boys and one girl.

When the children were grown up, their mother said :
' Children, why do you not look after your patrimony ?
why do you leave it thus abandoned ? ' The children did
not know anything about this patrimony, and asked their
mother where it was. The mother told them that it was in
such and such a place, but the children would have to go a
long way. They asked their mother : ' Since it is so far, when
we go to work, who will bring us our food and driiik ? ' The
mother answered : ' I shall send your sister with your food.'

The brothers were pleased with their mother's proposal,
and made ready to start. Their mother gave them onion
and garlic with them, and said : ' As you are going along,
cut the skin off and drop it : when your sister brings your
food she will see it, and know where to find you.'

The brothers went to work, and on the path they threw
down the skins as their mother had suggested.

Near this path there lived a devi with a hundred heads.
Once the devis mother saw the onion peelings strewed on
the path ; she collected them all, and put them on the road
leading to her house. Three days passed, and the mother
thought that her sons' food must be nearly finished. She
prepared some more for them, put it in a bag, gave it to her

^ Asphurtzela = hundred leaves : this name refers to the manner of
his birth.

ASPHURTZELA 69

daughter, and sent her to her brothers. The girl set out and
followed the onion peelings.

She went on and on and came to a house. In the house
was seated an old woman. The girl cried out : ' Mother,
mother, canst thou tell me if my brothers are working here ?'
' What dost thou want with thy brothers here ? ' said the old
woman. ' This is the house of a dew/ with a hundred heads ;
he will soon be coming home, so I had better hide thee, for
if he sees thee he will eat thee.'

The devi's mother took the maiden and hid her. The
devi appeared, no one knows whence. He carried dead
game and firewood. He unbound them from his back,
went in, and said : ' Mother, I smell a man ! Who has come
hither ? ' ' Why dost thou ask ? ' said the old woman ; ' for
fear of thee bird cannot fly in heaven, nor can worm creep
on earth.' The devi insisted, and his mother at last gave
way, and said : ' I have here a maiden whom I wish thee to
marry ; if thou wilt not eat her, I will let thee see her.' The
son promised, and his mother brought the girl out. When
the devi saw her, he liked her very much, and did not
eat her.

The brothers waited and waited for their sister, and when
she did not come they rose and went home. They re-
proached their mother, saying : ' Why hast thou not sent us
food ? ' When their mother heard them say this, she began
to weep, and said : ' Near the road dwells a hundred-headed
devi, and I fear that he — may he be cursed ! — has eaten her.'
The brothers did not know of this devi, and when they heard
about him they arose and went forth to deliver their sister.

When they had gone a good way, they neared the house
of the devi. At that time their sister and the devi's mother
were sitting on the roof. The devfs mother saw them

70 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

coming in the distance, and said to her daughter-in-law :
' Look there ! dost thou see nothing coming ? ' Her
daughter-in-law replied : ' I see something like a swarm of
flies.' ' Woe to their mother and to my son's mother ! ' said
the devi's mother, and asked her again, in a short time, what
she saw. The devi's wife answered : ' I see three men.'
' Woe to their mother and to my son's mother ! ' moaned the
old woman.

The three brothers came at last to the devVs house.
There they saw water, but they could not cross it by any
means. They threw in stones, and stepped over in this
way. Then the girl saw that they were her brothers ; she
came down and embraced them. When the devis mother
learnt who they were, she took them in, gave them food, and
then hid them, saying : ' If my son comes home and sees
you he will eat you.'

Then the hundred-headed devi came, no one knows
whence. On one shoulder he had iirewood, and on the
other dead game. At the door he undid his burden, and,
when he came in, said : ' I smell a man ; who has come
hither ? ' His mother tried to hide the truth, but her son
would not leave her alone, so at last she said : ' If thou wilt
promise not to eat thy wife's brothers, I will show them to
thee.' The devi promised, and the old woman brought in
the three brothers.

A little while after, the devi said to his wife's brothers :
' Come, let us prepare supper.' They all came and began to
skin the game the devi had brought. Whilst the three
brothers skinned one stag, the devi skinned sixty, cut them
up and threw them into the pot. Then he came, seized the
stag his brothers-in-law were skinning, and threw it also into
the pot.

ASPHURTZELA 71

When they sat down to supper, the devi asked his wife's
brothers : ' Are you eaters of bone or eaters of fiesh ? '
They answered : ' What have we to do with flesh ? Bones
are good enough for us.' The devi filled his mouth, tore
off the fiesh, and threw the bones to the three brothers.
Then he again inquired : ' Will you drink out of a doki^ or
out of a qantsi}'^ ' From a qantsi^ replied the brothers.
The devi poured out a doki of wine for himself, while he
filled the qantsi for them.

When they had finished supper, and were preparing to go
to bed, the devi again inquired : ' Do you wish to sleep in
a bed or in the stable ? ' ' What have we to do with a bed ?
put us in the stable ! ' replied the brothers. The devi lay
down in his bed, and the brothers slept in the stable. In
the morning, when the devi awoke, he said to his mother :
' Mother, I am hungry ! ' The mother saw his meaning, and
not wishing to let her daughter-in-law understand, she thus
replied : ' Go, son, to the stable ; there, in the bread-box,
are three badly-cooked loaves. Take them and eat them.'

The devi went into the stable where the brothers lay. He
swallowed one of them in the doorway, put the other two
in his pocket, and went into the wood.

In the meantime the mother of the brothers waited and
waited, and when they did not come back, she thought : ' The
devi must have eaten my sons.' She wept bitterly, her tears
flowed until they reached to heaven. At that moment a man
was passing by. He asked the cause of the tears, and the
woman told him that they were for the loss of her children.

Then the man gave her an apple, and said : ' Cut this
apple into a hundred pieces, and every day eat three ; when

1 Doki=xa. Imeretian measure for wine, holding 5 bottles.

2 Qantsi— 3. drinking-horn.

72 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

the apple is finished, thou shalt have a son, and thou shalt
call his name Asphurtzela.'

The woman did as he said. She cut the apple into a
hundred pieces, and every day ate three. When the apple
was finished, she brought forth a son, and called him by the
name of Asphurtzela. Asphurtzela grew as much in a day
as other children grow in a year.

Once when Asphurtzela was playing with a group of little
boys, a woman passed by with a coca ^ full of water on her
shoulder. Just then Asphurtzela threw his codchi;'^ the
codchi whirled through the air, struck the woman's coca and
broke it. The woman was angry, and called out : ' Mayst
thou be cursed ! But how can I curse thee, only son of
thy mother? For this trick may thy brothers and sister
never be delivered from the claws of the devi ! '

Asphurtzela did not understand this. He hastened inside,
and said to his mother : ' Give me to suck, mother ! ' ' What
a time to ask such a thing,' said his mother. But the boy
would not wait, so his mother gave him his wish.

Asphurtzela bit his mother's breast, and said : ' Tell me,
mother, have I any brothers ? ' His mother did not wish
him to know, but she was in such pain that she told him
everything. When Asphurtzela heard her tale, he prepared
to go away. His mother entreated him not to leave her, but
the boy would not be persuaded, and set out.

He wandered far and near, and came to an open field,
where he saw men ploughing the ground. He shouted out
to them : ' Take care, save yourselves, a hundred-headed
devi is coming ! ' The men were filled with terror, and fled
in all directions.

' Coca=a large measure for water or wine (about 25 bottles).
^ Ci3rfi;^2 = knuckle-bones, with which children play.

ASPHURTZELA 73

Asphurtzela slung the plough over his back, took it to a
smith, and said : ' Make me out of this iron a pair of shoes
and a bow and arrow.' The smith did so ; Asphurtzela put
on the iron shoes, took the bow and arrow, and went in
quest of the hundred-headed devi.

He went some distance and approached the devPs house.
At that time the devi's mother was sitting on the roof, and,
seeing some one coming, she said to her daughter-in-law :
' Dost thou see any one, or do my eyes deceive me ? ' When
her daughter-in-law assured her that it was some one, the
devi's mother moaned : ' Woe to his mother's breast, and
woe to my son's mother's breast ! '

In the meantime Asphurtzela arrived quite near the house,
leaped over the stream, and came to the door. He saw
there a young girl, and said : ' Surely thou art my sister ! '
The girl only knew her three brothers, and would not admit
this, but when Asphurtzela told her his tale, she believed
him.

Then the devVs mother came and said : ' Come, child,
I will put thee in safety and hide thee, lest my son eat
thee when he comes home.' ' Go in there, dog of an old
woman ! May God bring thee and thy son to shame ! '
said Asphurtzela, and he waited impatiently for the return
of the devi.

Just then the devi appeared, with game slung over his
shoulder, and tree roots thrust under his arm. When he
saw a strange boy standing boldly in front of his house, he
said to himself : ' For fear of me bird dare not fly in heaven
nor worm creep on earth. Who can this boy be who is
strutting about so carelessly ? '

The devi was mad with fury when he saw him. Flames
shot from his eyes ; he cast an angry glance at him, and

74 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

shouted out : ' Who art thou ? and what art thou doing here ?'
' Shall I tell thee who I am ? I am thy wife's brother ; I am
come to be thy guest, so thou must be my host,' said
Asphurtzela. ' Very well,' returned the devi, ' come in and
let us prepare supper. We must skin the game and cook
it.' They began to skin the game, but by the time the devi
had skinned one beast, Asphurtzela had finished all the
game, thrown it into the pot and cooked it.

The devigaztd on Asphurtzela in unfeigned astonishment.
When the food was cooked, and they sat down to supper,
the devi, according to his custom, put the question to his
guest : ' Art thou an eater of bones or of flesh ? ' ' Pass me
over the flesh, why should I eat bones ? am I a dog that I
should do this ? ' answered Asphurtzela. The devi gave him
flesh, and inquired : ' Wilt thou drink out of a qantsi or out
of a doki}' 'Pass over the doki, why should I take a
qantsi ? ' The devi gave him the doki, and sank into deep
thought. When it was time to go to bed, the devi inquired :
' Wilt thou sleep in the stable or in a bed ? ' 'I am a man,
what should I do in the stable? Give me a bed,' said
Asphurtzela.

So it came to pass that Asphurtzela slept in the bed, and
the devi lay down in the stable. He lay down, but, alas !
he could not sleep. His one idea was how he could rid
himself of this disagreeable guest. When he thought that
Asphurtzela must be asleep, he took a huge sword and
began to sharpen it. The noise of the sharpening awoke
Asphurtzela, and he, guessing the devi's design, jumped out
of bed, and put a log of wood under the coverlet. Then he
hid in the room. When the devi had made his sword as
bright as a diamond, he stole out quietly, opened the door,
and went noiselessly towards Asphurtzela's bed. He raised

ASPHURTZELA 75

his sword with all his might and main, and struck with such
force that all the dust in the bed was raised, and the log was
cleft through the middle. Then the devi went away and
closed the door.

Asphurtzela shook down his bed and slept peacefully. In
the morning, when the devi awoke and saw his brother-in-
law, he gazed on him in amazement, and said : ' Didst thou
feel any pain in the night ? ' ' Oh, no ! ' said Asphurtzela.
' Not even a flea-bite ? ' ' No.' ' Then let us wrestle.'
' Very well,' said Asphurtzela, and the combat began.

The divi struggled and struggled, but could not move his
brother-in-law. Then Asphurtzela attacked him, and buried
him in the ground up to the neck. He took his bow and
arrow, aimed at the devi, and cried out : 'Tell me quickly
what thou hast done with my brothers, or I shall shoot
thee.' The devi was afraid, and said : ' Do not kill me and
I shall tell thee. In my breast is a little coffer, in it they
are lying dead ; there too is a handkerchief, place it on
them, and they will become alive again.'

When Asphurtzela heard this, he cut open the devVs
breast, took out the coffer, brought out his brothers, placed
a handkerchief on them, and they came back to life. Then
he shot his arrow at the hundred-headed devi and killed
him. When he had cut him into small pieces, he went to
the devi's mother and killed her too. Then he learnt his
brothers' story, and told them his in return.

The brothers believed Asphurtzela, but envy entered their
hearts when they found how much braver he was than they.
At last they all arose and went towards home. On the way
they had to pass through an open field, where there grew
a tree, so large that all the field was under its shade.
Asphurtzela said to his brothers and sister : ' Let us rest

76 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

here, I am very tired and would close my eyes a little.' The
brothers consented.

Asphurtzela lay down at the foot of the tree and slept like
the dead. His brothers sat down near him, and began to
whisper one to another : ' Now that he has killed the
hundred-headed devi, what good can he do us ? Come, let
us bind him to this tree and leave him here.' They took
withs, twisted them round and round, and bound him to the
tree, so hard that blood poured from his fingers. When his
sister saw this, she entreated them to spare him, but they
would not listen to her. They bound him tight, took their
sister and went home.

As soon as they were in the house, the girl told their
mother everything. The mother called down curses on her
three sons.

When Asphurtzela woke and saw that he was bound to
the tree, he tried hard to get away, but could not move.
He looked round, and saw that his brothers were no longer
there. He looked everywhere, and then prayed to God :
' O God, if I have deceived my brothers, may this tree
become stronger, but if they have deceived me, may I pull
it up by the roots.' When he had said this he tried again,
and the tree came up by the roots.

Then Asphurtzela arose and went home, bearing the tree
with him. He came to the house, and called to his
brothers ; ' Come out at once and loose my hands ! ' His
brothers grew pale and faint from fear, but they came out
and set him free. After this Asphurtzela did not wish to
live with his brothers, and made ready to leave home.
His sister and mother entreated him to stay, but Asphurtzela
would not yield.

He went away, and wandered on until he came to a field

ASPHURTZELA 77

where a man was ploughing ; when he turned up a clod he
threw it into his mouth and swallowed it. Asphurtzela
gazed and gazed, and at last said : ' Man, why dost thou
swallow these clods ? ' ' There is no cause for surprise in
that ; Asphurtzela has killed the hundred-headed devi, what
is there remarkable in my swallowing clods ? ' said the clod-
swallower. 'I am Asphurtzela, so let us be as brothers,'
said Asphurtzela. They went on together.

When they had gone some distance they came to another
field, where there was a man with mill wheels tied to his
feet, and in his pocket were two hares. He let both the
hares away, and then caught both again. Asphurtzela
gazed and gazed at the man, and then said : ' Man, what
art thou doing ? how canst thou catch these hares ? ' ' As-
phurtzela killed the hundred-headed devi, what is there
remarkable in catching two hares ? ' said the hare-catcher.^
'Why, this is Asphurtzela, and he will be as a brother to
thee, if thou wilt,' said the clod-swallower. So they all
went on together.

On the way, the comrades arranged that each should
shoot his arrow in turn, and in the place where it stuck
they should eat their repast. First of all the clod-swallower
shot. His arrow stuck in a very awkward place, but they
came and took their supper there.

Then the hare-catcher shot his arrow, which also stuck in an
awkward place. They came to it and ate their mid-day meal.

Last of all Asphurtzela cast his arrow, and it stuck on
the shelf of a house where dwelt three devis. At that time
the devis were being married to three fair maidens. They
saw the arrow stick in their shelf, and stopped the weddings.

' This obscure incident will be better understood by referring to
p. 50 of Carnoy et Nicolaides ( Traditions de VAsie Mineure).

78 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

They tried to pull the arrow out, they struggled and
struggled, but could not move it. Then they said : ' Since
we cannot pull this arrow out, let us go away, in case he
who shot it comes and takes up his abode here.' They left
in the house only one lame devi, whom they hid in the
chimney.

The three friends came in, laid the cloth, and made
ready their supper. They threw up their caps for joy.
Then they said : ' Come, let each of us, in turn, remain at
home and prepare the food.'

The first day the clod-swallower stayed in. He had pre-
pared the food and dressed it, when, behold ! the lame devi
came down from the chimney, and said to the clod-
swallower : ' Give me to eat and drink.' He gave him
food. ' Give me to eat and drink,' said the devi again.
He gave him food once more. When he made the
same demand a third time, the clod-swallower answered :
' If thou eatest and drinkest everything, what shall I say to
my comrades ? ' The devi said : ' Give me to eat and drink,
or I shall eat thee and thy provisions too.' The clod-
swallower was afraid, and ran to the door. The devi sat
down and finished all the food.

The companions came home and saw that there was no
food, but what did it matter ? They managed for that day,
and the next morning left the hare-catcher at home. The
same thing happened to him as to the clod-swallower.
Then it was Asphurtzela's turn.

He prepared a quantity of different kinds of food and
drink for his companions. Then the lame devi came out
of the chimney, and said : ' Give me to eat and drink.'
Asphurtzela did so. ' Give me to eat and drink,' again said
the devi. Asphurtzela did so. When he asked a third

ASPHURTZELA 79

time, Asphurtzela said : ' If I give thee all, what will my
comrades do ? ' 'If thou wilt not give me to eat, I shall
eat thee and thy food too.' Asphurtzela smiled to himself,
took his bow and arrow, shot the devi through the heart,
and cut him in halves.

The devi's head rolled one way and his body another.
The head cried out : ' Happy is he who will follow me.'
The body cried : ' Woe to the man who follows me.' In
the meantime Asphurtzela's companions returned. They
ate, and then said : ' Let us go and see what the devi's
head promised.'

The devi's head rolled and fell into a hole. Asphurtzela
looked in and saw three lovely maidens. He was pleased,
and said : ' Let us bring them out and marry them.' The
clod-swallower slipped in, but before he had reached the
bottom he called out : ' I burn, I burn, draw me up,' and
they took him out. Then the hare-catcher slipped down,
and the same thing happened to him. Then came
Asphurtzela's turn.

He said to his companions : ' When I call out " I burn,
I burn," let me down lower into the hole.' He called out
many times : ' I burn,' but his companions only lowered
him farther. 1

He went down the hole and saw the maidens, each
excelled the other, but the youngest was certainly the most
beautiful of all. He took the eldest, and called out to the
clod-swallower : ' This is thine ! ' Then he sent up the
secorld sister, calling out to the hare-catcher : ' This is
thine ! ' Last of all he was about to send the youngest, as
his wife, but she objected, saying : ' Go thou first, then I
will come, for I fear that thy comrades will betray thee.'
1 Cf. Carnoy et Nicolaides, p. 77.

8o GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

Asphurtzela was obstinate, and insisted upon her going
first. ' Very well,' said the maiden, ' I will go, since thou
wishest me to do so, but know this, thy companions will not
draw thee up, they will shut down the covering of the hole,
and thou wilt be left here. Three streams will flow here ;
one black, one blue, and one white ; do not put thy head
under any except white water, lest thou be drowned.'

It was as she had said. When all three maidens were
up, the two men put stones at the mouth of the hole, and
left Asphurtzela. He was so indignant that he at once put
his head under the black spring, and was immediately
carried to the lower regions. He wandered about here and
there, and came at last to an old woman's hut. He called
out : ' Mother, mother, give me some water to drink.'
' Ah, child,' said the old woman, ' at present there is none,
we shall have it again when the dragon has carried away
our princess.' 'What dragon?' said Asphurtzela. The
old woman replied : ' Our water is withheld by a dragon
{gvelashapi), and if we do not offer him a human victim to
eat, the water will not flow. We have all paid this debt
save the king, and to-day his daughter is to be offered up.'
' Fetch me a water-vessel, mother, I must hasten this
minute to the well,' said Asphurtzela.

The woman prayed him not to go, but he would not
hear her. The old woman arose, and brought him vessels.
Asphurtzela broke up these small water-jars, and said :
' Hast thou no kvevris ? * bring them to me.' The old
woman showed him where the kvevris were. Asphurtzela
took them and went away.

When he came to the edge of the stream, he saw a richly

' Az)fi»rj = a large wine-jar which is kept buried in the earth up to
the neck.

ASPHURTZELA 8i

dressed maiden seated, shedding bitter tears. He asked
her the cause, and when he learnt that this was the king's
daughter, he said : ' I will sleep here ; when the dragon
comes, wake me up.' He laid his head on the maiden's lap,
and fell asleep.

The dragon soon appeared. The maiden was afraid to
wake Asphurtzela, and she wept more than ever. One of
her tears fell on Asphurtzela's cheek, and he woke. When
he saw the dragon he rose up, shot an arrow, and cut it in
pieces.^ The maiden, overjoyed, immediately hastened
home to her father, and said : ' Thus and thus has it come
to pass, the dragon is dead.' The king at first would not
believe this, but when others put faith in the story, he sent
to seek the youth. He wished him to marry the princess,
and decided to give him half of the kingdom.

They sought, and sought, but could not find him.
Then the old woman came to the palace and said : ' Mighty
sovereign ! have mercy upon me and upon my son.' The
king knew that she had no son, and said : ' Thou hadst
formerly no son, where hast thou found this one ? ' ' God
has given me for my son a youth who has killed our enemy
the dragon,' answered the old woman.

The king was rejoiced that the youth was found. He
sent his ministers to bring him to the palace. When
Asphurtzela came, the king offered him great presents, but
he would not take them, and said : ' If thou wilt send me
back to my own land of light, I shall be happy, this is all I
desire.' The king was very melancholy, he entreated him,
but it was of no avail, so he promised.

After this, Asphurtzela went again to his adopted mother.
On the way he saw a great tree, and on the top there was a
^ Cf. Carnoy et Nicolaides, p. 8 1.
F

82 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

griffin's {phascundzi) nest. There flew down from on high
a dragon, and the little birds set up a terrified scream.
When Asphurtzela saw what was about to happen, he drew
his bow, and, in the twinkling of an eye, the dragon was
dead.

The mother griffin flew down, and her fledglings told her
what had happened. Then the grateful griffin came to
Asphurtzela and said : ' Tell me what thou wishest, that I
may do thee a service.' Asphurtzela said : ' I wish for
nought, save to be taken again into the land of light.' ' It
will be difficult for me, but why should I not do this for
thy sake ? ' said the griffin, and directed him to get food
and prepare for the journey. Asphurtzela returned to the
king, and asked him for provisions.

When everything was ready, the griffin put Asphurtzela
on her back and flew off". On the way, when the griffin
cried out, Asphurtzela put food in her mouth. Just as they
were about to enter the world of light, the griffin again
cried aloud. Asphurtzela had no more food left, but he
cut off the calf of his leg, and threw it into the griffin's
mouth. This morsel was so very tasty that the griffin did
not eat it, but kept it on the tip of her tongue.

When they had arrived, the griffin said : ' Now farewell !
leap down and go away.' Asphurtzela descended and went
away, but he walked like one who is lame. The griffin
said : ' What aileth thee that thou art lame ? ' He told
her. Then the griffin took the piece of flesh she had kept
on her tongue, put it in its place, made it whole, and went
away.

Asphurtzela went to seek his comrades. He went on
and on until he came to a certain place. There he saw his
two companions about to marry the beautiful maidens.

THE CHILD OF FORTUNE 83

He took aim with his bow and arrow, and called out :

' Were the men or the women to blame ? ' ' The youngest

sister replied: 'How could it be the women's fault? It was

the men's.' Asphurtzela shot his arrow and killed his two

companions. Then he took the beautiful maidens

with him, married the youngest, and gave the

two elder to his brothers.^

XIII

The Shepherd and the Child of Fortune

THERE was and there was not at all, there was a man
who had a wife. They possessed great wealth, but
had no child. Once the woman said to her husband :
' Come, let us place young bullocks in our churches, and at
night let some one watch, perhaps God will look down
upon us and give us a child.' The husband approved of
this idea, and placed bullocks in five churches.

Then they went into one of the churches, killed a bullock,
gave it to their shepherd, and said : ' Go, take this bullock's
flesh and give it to the poor ; do thou remain in the church
all night and watch. Listen very carefully.' The shep-
herd went away and gave the bullock's flesh to the poor ;
then he went into the church, and remained the whole,night
watching, but he heard not a word relating to his master's
childlessness.

Day dawned, and the shepherd went and told his
master : ' I have watched the whole night, and have not

^ Cf. Carnoy et Nicolaides : Traditions de VAsie Mineure, p. 43,
' Le Fils du Laboureur,' and p. 75, ' Les tiois Robes.'

84 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

heard a sound.' Then this man went into the second chapel.
He killed the bullock there, and gave it to his shepherd,
who distributed it even as he had the first. In the morning,
when he went home, he brought the same answer as before.
Then they went to the third and fourth chapels, but still
they learnt nothing.

Only the fifth chapel remained. Here also the shepherd
distributed bullock's flesh to the poor, and hid himself in
the church. In the middle of the night, behold there flew
down the five angels of the churches, and began to talk
together. They said : ' We must do something for this
man. He is childless ; let us give him a son.' ' Yes,' said
the first angel, ' but when he reaches the age of twenty let
him die and return to us.' ' No,' said the second angel,
' when the priest shall lead him into the cathedral and
place a crown on his head, then he shall die.' ' When he
has a wife and children, then he shall die,' said the third.
' He shall live a long time, he shall grow old, but shall be a
worthless fellow,' said the fourth. ' If we are to give the
man a child, let us give him something better,' said the
fifth angel. ' We have spoken, now it is thy turn ; what
dost thou say ? ' answered the others. ' Then,' said the fifth
angel, ' let him be endowed with immortal youth, and what-
ever he asks of God may it come to pass.' ' Good, good ! '
assented the others, and they went away each to his own
place.

The shepherd heard all this. At daybreak he came back
to his master, who inquired of him : ' Well, didst thou hear
nothing last night ? ' The shepherd replied : ' The five
angels of the churches assembled, and they said that thou
shouldst have a son at the end of a year, but it is ordained
that thy shepherd shall be present at the birth.' ' Thank

THE CHILD OF FORTUNE 85

the Lord ! If we have a son thou mayst be present,'
answered the husband and wife.

After this the shepherd went to his sheep^ and the man
and woman went in. A year passed ; the shepherd delayed
some time, put in his pocket a Httle goat, and went away.
The woman was in bed, and the shepherd put her child in
his pocket, and wrapped the young goat up in the bedclothes.
Then the shepherd opened the bedroom door and went
away. When he had gone for one or two weeks the child
would not stay in his pocket any longer, and asked to be
put down. The shepherd put him down, and he walked by
himself.

They went on and on, and at last they became hungr}'.
The shepherd said to himself : ' Come, I will try if the
prophecy of the angels be true or not,' and he said to the
boy : ' Wish that God will give us bread, that we may eat.'
The boy wished, and God gave them bread. They sat
down and ate, but they had no water. He wished for
water, and, by their side, there murmured a beautiful
spring.

The shepherd now believed in his heart that all his
desires would be fulfilled, and said : ' Wish that in this
plain a house completely furnished may arise, and that out-
side there may be a village over which I may rule, and
that I may have such and such a princess for my wife.'
The boy wished this, and everything was according to his
desire.

Some time passed. Once the princess asked the shep-
herd, saying: 'How has it happened that an illustrious
princess like me has married a simple shepherd?' Her
husband replied : ' Heat the spit and put it on the sole of
the boy's foot to see if he is asleep. If he is, then I will

86 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

tell thee all.' The child heard this conversation, and
wished in his heart : ' O God ! may my foot be hardened,
so that I cannot feel anything.' The woman heated the
spit, put it on the sole of the boy's foot, but he did not
move. The shepherd thought that he was really asleep,
and told his wife everything in detail. The child lay
quiet and listened. He now learnt for the first time whose
son he was, and how he had fallen into the hands of the
shepherd.

Next morning at daybreak he arose and went to seek
his parents. He went on and on, and everywhere asked
news of his village. He came to his father's house, and
said : ' Do you want a guest ? ' ' Truly, child, a guest is of
God ! ' And they led him in. Then the boy asked them :
' Have you lost anything ? ' The master of the house re-
plied : ' Well, child, I have lost a shepherd, and I still owe
him four years' wages.' ' I saw him just now coming to you
with great wealth, and with a wife and family,' said the boy.

At night, when all were asleep, the boy wished in his
heart : ' O God ! may the shepherd, with his house, his
family, and his town, be in our courtyard to-night.'

The next morning the master of the house came to the
door, and was struck with surprise. ' My God ! ' said he,
' how was this town built in our courtyard ? ' His wife
said : ' What art thou talking about, husband ? This our
courtyard, indeed ! We are somewhere else.' The man
replied : ' No, wife, this is our own home ; that is our house,
but these are certainly not the usual surroundings.' ' Well,
let me look inside ; if there is a boy sleeping there it must
be our house.' The boy was awake, but pretended to be
asleep.

The man and woman went in and saw the boy sleeping

THE CHILD OF FORTUNE 87

there. They awoke him and said : ' Who art thou who hast
appeared here ? We pray thee to tell us what thou hast
done that we no longer know our own house.' The boy
smiled and said : ' I told you yesterday that your shepherd
was coming to you with his possessions. Behold ! he came
yesterday, and has taken up his abode in your courtyard.
Let us call this your shepherd here.'

At that moment the shepherd awoke. When he jumped
out of bed and saw the courtyard, he said to himself:
' Great art thou, O Lord ! I was settled in my home, and
now I am here ! ' He went in to his master, bent his knee,
and said : ' Thus and thus have I done ; I have done evil,
and now I am in thy hands, do to me as thou wilt.' When
the man and woman heard this tale they did not know what
to do to show their joy. First one embraced the child,
then the other. At length the boy said: 'I am in truth
your son, but this man is also your child. He has done
wrong, but you will forgive all, and give him his hire.' His
father gave the shepherd his hire, and forgave him.

But still the boy was not satisfied. He said to his
parents : ' This shepherd, at least, left a goat in exchange
for me ; if my mother brought up the goat, he brought me
up. If you wish, keep the goat and I will go with him ;
if, however, you keep me, you ought to give him back his
goat.' ' Not only will I do that, but I will also give him
half of my flocks,' said the boy's father. He divided his

flocks into two parts and gave one to his shepherd,

and took him into his house. The boy remained

with his father and mother, and they lived

happily together.

88 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

XIV

The Two Thieves

THERE was once a thief called the Big Thief. Now
this Big Thief went into a town to steal. When he had
gone some little distance he met an unknown man. ' God
give thee victory ! ^ Mayst thou be victorious ! ' ^ said they
one to another. ' Who art thou, and what is thy trade ? '
inquired the Big Thief. 'My trade is thieving, and my
name is Little Thief,' said the unknown. 'I, too, am a
thief, so let us join partnership.' He agreed, and they
became partners.

And they went on together to steal. On the way, the Big
Thief said to the Little Thief: 'Now give me a proof of
thy skill in thieving.' But the latter said : ' Thou art the
Big Thief, thou must show me thy skill ; what can I do
compared with thee ? ' The Big Thief consented.

They saw, just at that moment, a pigeon sitting on a plane
tree. The Big Thief said : ' Now you shall see me pull out
the tail of that pigeon on the plane tree without its know-
ledge.' Having said this, he went up the tree.

When he had gone about half way, the Little Thief
silently stole under the plane tree, climbed up, and while
the Big Thief pulled out the tail of the pigeon, the Little
Thief took off his companion's drawers, and promptly de-
scended the tree.

When the Big Thief came down and proudly showed the

pigeon's tail, the Little Thief thrust his hand into his

pocket and showed him the drawers. When the Big Thief

saw this, he was struck with amazement, and said : ' Al-

^ The usual greeting between Georgians.

THE TWO THIEVES 89

though I am famous I do not think thou art at all inferior
to me.' They had tried each other's skill, and went on.

On the way, the Little Thief enquired of the Big Thief :
' What shall we steal to-night ? ' ' Let us go to-night and
break into the king's treasury,' said the Big Thief. ' Very
well,' agreed his comrade, and they set out for the town.

At nightfall, when the tread of people's feet had ceased,
the thieves took two bags, and went to break into the king's
treasury. The Little Thief said : ' Climb thou into the
treasury, gather up the money, I shall fill the bags, then we
can take them up, and make off.' The Big Thief would
not consent. ' No,' said he ; ' thou art the smaller, go
inside, and I shall stay here.' He insisted until he gained
his point.

At last the Little Thief got in, and collected the money.
The Big Thief stayed outside and filled the bags. When
the two bags were full, he made a sign, the Little Thief
came out of the treasury, they took the bags and went
home.

Next morning the king went into his treasury. He
looked in and saw what had happened. Then he called
his council together, and made his complaint. They
planned and planned, and at last thought of the follow-
ing scheme. They took a big barrel, filled it with pitch,
and placed it at the entrance to the treasury.

The thieves knew nothing of this. When night came
again, they returned to steal. The Little Thief said :
' Yesterday I went into the treasury, to-day it is thy turn, I
will watch for thee.' The Big Thief consented. He went
into the treasury, and suddenly was caught fast. The Little
Thief pulled hard, but his companion could not get away;
nothing but his head was visible ; he was up to the neck in

90 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

pitch. When day dawned, the Little Thief saw that nothing
could be done, so he took his dagger and cut off his com-
rade's head. Then he hid it in a place where no human
being could possibly find a trace of it.

He went home and told his late companion's wife. He
warned her to be very careful, and not to go out, for if it
was discovered that they were interested in the dead man,
they would most certainly be seized and killed.

When day dawned, they told the king : ' A thief is
caught in the trap, but he has no head.' The king went
himself, and saw that in truth the thief had no head, and he
was amazed. How could a headless man thieve ? Then
he commanded them, saying : ' Take his body and put it
in the market place, with sentinels to guard it. Whoever
passes by and weeps at the sight of it will be guilty, because
it will be a sign of pity for the thief; bring such persons
to me immediately.'

When the Little Thief heard this, he went home, and in-
structed his companion's wife how to act. ' Take good
care not to go out, lest they discover thee ' ; and he told
her what orders the king had given. The Big Thiefs wife
could not bear this, and entreated him to let her go, say-
ing : 'I will stand far away and weep quietly, no one will
recognise me.' ' Very well, but be careful. Take a water
jug with thee as if to carry water, and when near thy
husband's body, strike thy foot against a stone, break the
jar, and then sit down and weep as if thou art mourning
for the broken pitcher.'

The woman did exactly as she was told. She took the
jar on her shoulder and went for water. When she came
near the place where her husband's body was lying, she
struck her foot on a stone, let the jar fall, and it broke.

THE TWO THIEVES 91

Then she sat down by the fragments and began to weep
bitterly, apparently for the pitcher, but really for her
husband. When she had wailed enough she rose and went
away. The sentinels were amazed : ' What a miserable
woman to cry thus for a broken pitcher ! '

Night came on. The sentinels returned to the palace
with the body of the thief, and said to the king : ' We saw
no one who wept except one woman, who struck her foot
against a stone and broke her water jar, and for this she
cried bitterly.' The king was very angry, for he saw the
trick the woman had played. He was enraged because
they had not seized her and brought her to him, but had
let her escape. Then the king ordered the sentinels' heads
to be cut off.

As this ruse had not succeeded, the king thought of
another. He sent the thief's corpse outside the town, and
left it there. Perhaps the right person will see it and come
to steal it. Sentinels were posted, and told that if any one
came to steal the corpse they should seize him and bring
him.

On hearing this news the Little Thief drove an ass before
him into a neighbouring village. There he had some cakes
baked and turkeys and fowls roasted, put them in the
saddle bag, and hung it on the ass. Then he bought some
of the best wine and went on his way. He came to the
place where the sentinels were posted, and cried out : ' Do
you not want a guest ? I have come from afar, and must
stay here to-night ; I fear some one may steal the ass. Let
us have a good supper.' The mention of supper delighted
the sentinels. They sat down and began to eat. The
Little Thief poured them out wine. The sentinels drank,
but the thief did not drink a drop.

92 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

When they had eaten well, he said to them : ' I am going
to sleep. As I am sleepy, you may watch the ass and see
that no one steals him, lest if he be lost I accuse you to the
king.' 'Lie down and make thyself easy. This ass of
thine is not so attractive that thou needst fear for him,'
said the sentinels. The Little Thief lay down and pre-
tended to go to sleep, but he kept a sharp look out. A
short time afterwards the sentinels lay in a deep sleep, they
slept as if they were dead.

Then the Little Thief arose and lifted the body of his
late companion on his back. He brought forward his ass,
put the corpse on it, and turned its head towards home.
He himself lay down again and fell asleep.

The ass was accustomed to find his way home, he
lowered his head as if meditating, went straight home and
knocked against the door. The Big Thief s wife came and
took down the dead body, put it on a couch and wept.
When her heart was solaced by tears, she buried him in
the earth under the couch.

When morning came, the sentries awoke and roused their
false host. The Little Thief looked round and called his
ass. He saw that it was not there, and set up a fearful
howl : ' I will go and accuse you to the king.' The sentinels
were terrified, and completely lost their heads when they
saw that the corpse was gone. They drew money from
their pockets, and offered it to silence their noisy host.
This was what he wanted ; he had not only stolen the body
but gained some money.

The sentinels went to the king. When he heard their
tale he was extremely irritated, and ordered their heads to
be cut off.

This new plan having failed, he thought of another. A

THE TWO THIEVES 93

street was strewed with money ; sentinels were placed here
and there, and ordered to seize any passer-by who gathered
up the money, for he would be the thiefs master and
companion.

The Little Thief heard this news with joy. He got a
pair of boots tarred, and went out with them under his arm.

When he came to the street that was strewed with money
he sat down, took off his boots, and put on the newly-tarred
boots. Then he walked along the street boldly, singing a
song. When he had got to the end of the street, he took
off the money that had stuck tt) his tarred boots, made a
hole in the earth and poured it in. Then he walked back
to the other end of the street, cleaned his boots again and
buried the money. He did this the whole day, and by the
evening he had picked up almost half of the money.

The sentinels gathered up what was left, went to the
king, and said : ' No one has taken the money, but a man
was walking in the street from morning till night.' The king
was enraged that they had not taken this man, and ordered
the sentinels to be beheaded.

Then he assembled his counsellors and asked their
advice. Now the king had a hind, if they were to let this
animal loose it would fall on its knees before the house
of him who was guilty against the king. And the viziers
said : ' Let the hind go, and it will fall on its knees in front
of the house of the thief.'

The king took this advice, and they let the hind loose.

It raced along the streets, and fell on its knees just in
front of the Little Thiefs house.

In the morning, when the Little Thief awoke, he looked
out of his window, and saw the king's hind kneeling in front
of his house. He had heard of this hind before, so, when

94 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

he saw it, he knew what it meant. He went outside,
seized hold of the hind and drew it in ; he killed it and
skinned it, then he hid the skin carefully, and kept the
flesh in the house.

The king was mad with rage when they sought his hind
and could not find it. He assembled his viziers, and told
the story of the lost hind. \ The viziers' resources were at
an end now, they could think of no other trap for the thief.

But there appeared, from no one knows where, an old
woman. She approached the king and said : ' What wilt
thou give me if I find the lost hind ? ' ' Whatever thou
askest me,' said the king. 'Then give me my freedom.'
' I shall not only give thee thy freedom, but shall raise thee
to the rank of princess,' replied the king. The old woman
rose and went forth to seek the hind.

She wandered till at last she came to the Little Thief s
house. The Little Thief was not at home, and she saw
the Big Thief s wife. She said : ' Daughter, if thou hast a
piece of hind's flesh do not grudge it to me, it will cure
a sick one of his illness.' The thief s wife did not know of
the cunning of the old woman, went into her house, and
brought out a piece of hind's flesh. The old woman was
joyful, and did not wait. She rose and went away.

When she had gone a little way, she met the Little
Thief, who said : ' What is that, old dame ? ' 'A piece of
hind's flesh, as a remedy for my trouble ! The woman in
that house gave it to me,' said the beldam. The Little
Thief understood her ; he saw through her cunning, and
said : ' What is the use of this morsel of flesh ? Come
with me and I can give thee a whole dishful. Thou canst
eat and give to thy friends ; it will be of service to thee.'
The old woman's head swam with pleasure. She turned

THE TWO THIEVES 95

back and went with the Little Thief. Whenever the
deceitful old woman was enticed into the house, he drew
out his dagger and cut off her head. Then he took her
body, and buried it also under the couch. The king waited
for news, but the old woman never came.

Some time passed by, but still the old woman did not
come, and the king was enraged. He assembled his coun-
sellors, and said : ' What is the use of all this ? Is there
no way of trapping this thief?' The viziers said: 'This
fellow is so brave, and such a clever thief, that we cannot
entrap him.'

Then the king rose up and said : ' Let the thief come
to me. I shall not harm him, but shall give him my
daughter to wife. He is so clever that I cannot take him
by trickery.'

When the Little Thief heard this he came to the king
and said : ' I am that thief, and I am come to do your
majesty's will.' The king could not break his word, so he
gave him his daughter in marriage.

A neighbouring monarch heard this story. Every day he
wrote irritating letters to the thief's father-in-law, the king,
saying : ' Are you not ashamed to have anything to do with
a low thief, to marry him to your daughter, and call him
son-in-law ? . . .' The king was very much annoyed at
these scornful reproaches, and at last fell ill, being able to
bear them no longer.

Then the king's son-in-law came to him and said : ' What
is the matter ? Why art thou ill ? ' His father-in-law told
him everything, and he replied: 'Why distress thyself?
Give me a few days' leave, and I shall show thee a sight.
Only on such and such a day prepare a grand festival, and I
shall be here.' He fixed a date, and went away.

96 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

He travelled on until he came to the kingdom of the
mocking monarch, and he went into a house and rested.
The next day he saw a tailor and said : ' I want a robe cut
out of pieces of skin ; it must be all of different colours,
and I want little bells put in it.' When the tailor had
finished the garment, the thief gave him money and sent
him away.

Then he clad himself in the robe, took a glittering,
naked sword in his hand, and went to the palace. The
porters did not want to let him in, but the thief said : ' I
am Michael Gabriel, sent from God ! I am commanded to
take the souls of your king and queen to Paradise, and if
you trouble me I shall take your souls too, and shall send
them into hell.' He moved towards one of them, and the
bells began to ring. The porters' hearts were fearful, and
they hid themselves.

The thief went in to the king. When he saw the man he
became pale. Michael Gabriel said : ' I give you a term
of three days. In these three days put all your affairs in
order; appoint your successor. Strip off everything, put
yourselves in cofBns, and set the keys on the top. In three
days I shall come again, lock the coffins, and take them
away with me.' When he had said this he went away,
returned to the house, took off the robe of skins, and
waited three days.

On the third day he clothed himself as before, and went
again to the palace. The king and queen had stripped off
everything, and were in the coffins waiting. He called out :
' When you get to Paradise you will hear a noise, then the
coffins will open, and your eyes will view a glorious scene.'
He took the keys, locked both the coffins, took them on his
back, and carried them out.

THE FOX AND THE KING'S SON 97

He put them on his ass, went behind it, and called
gently, ' Gee-up ! ' On the appointed day he came to the
court of his father-in-law, who had invited the whole of his
kingdom and many neighbouring princes to a great feast.
The thief came, and, as he lifted the coffins off the ass,
beautiful music was heard.

The thief opened the coffins, and the king and queen

jumped out naked and began to dance. The people saw

their stupidity, and were ready to die with laughing. Then

the king came, clothed them in royal robes, and said : ' Now

you can go back to your own country, and rule your

kingdom, but do not mock me any more.' After this

the king loved his son-in-law very much, and,

when he died, left him the kingdom.

XV

The Fox and the King's Son

THERE was once a king who had a son. Every one
treated him badly, and chased him away. Even
passers-by looked upon him with disfavour. The prince
thought and thought, and at last he mounted his horse,
took his bow and arrow, and departed from his father's
palace.

When he had gone some distance he came into a shel-
tered wood. He wandered about until he found a suitable
nook. He built for himself a mud hut, and dwelt there.

Every day the prince went out to hunt. He would shoot
a stag or a roebuck, and bring it home. After he had
eaten as much as he wanted, there was always enough meat
left for the next day, but he never ate it the next day, as he

e

98 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

went hunting again, and there was thus always a quantity of
food left over.

A fox perceived this, and every day, when the prince had
gone out to the chase, he stole into the hut and ate all the
food that was left ; then he stole away again. Some time
passed thus. Then the fox said : ' There is no bravery in
this ! I carry away all his meat secretly, yet there is plenty.
I will show myself to him.'

Once when the prince was hunting, the fox stole in, and,
when his hunger was satisfied, he went about arranging
everything. When the prince came home, the fox leaped
out in front of him. The prince drew his bow, and was
just about to shoot him, when the fox cried out : ' Do not
kill me, and I will help to make thy fortune ! ' The prince
did not kill him, and the fox attended to the horse, and led
it about, until the sweat dried off its coat. They lived
thus for some time. The fox lighted the fire, tidied the
hut, and did all the work.

But, in spite of this, there was still meat left. ' I will go
and find some one who will help to eat it,' said the fox. He
went out, and saw a wolf hardly able to walk from want of
food. It could scarcely move from the spot where it was.
The fox said : ' Come home with me, and thou shalt have
plenty of everything.' The wolf followed him. They both
went into the hut, where the fox told his companion : ' I
will tidy the house, thou must stay here, and when the
master comes in attend to his horse.'

The master came, and on the saddle of his horse was
slung a stag. The wolf sprang out to attend to the horse ;
the youth drew his bow, and was about to shoot the wolf,
when the fox cried out : ' Do not kill him, he is a friend ! '
The prince did not kill him, but jumped down from his

THE FOX AND THE KING'S SON 99

horse, took the stag, and went in. The wolf attended to
the horse, and led him up and down, while the fox himself
saw to the inside of the house ; thus they lived for some
time.

The fox noticed that there was much meat left even now.
He ran out and brought in a famished bear. The wolf was
sent for grass, the bear commanded to tend the horse, while
the fox arranged the house. In a little time the prince
came in, and when the bear jumped out to look after his
horse he drew his bow to shoot him, but the fox cried out :
' Do not kill him, he is a friend ! ' The youth did not kill
the bear, and he tended the horse and led it about ; then
the wolf came in with the grass, and gave it to the horse.

Some time passed. The fox saw that even yet there was
meat to spare. He went out and sought until he found an
eagle, which he brought home. He commanded the eagle
to attend to the horse, sent the bear for grass, and the wolf
for wood to burn, while he saw to household affairs. Thus
each had his business to do. When the master returned,
the eagle flew out to tend the horse. The prince was about
to shoot him, when the fox cried out : ' Do not kill him, he
is a friend ! ' The prince did not kill him, but thought to
himself : ' What will this vile fox bring in next ? I shall
see all the game in the country here.' They lived thus
some time.

Once the fox said to his master : ' Give us leave to go
away for two weeks ; at the end of that time we shall return
to thee.' The master gave them leave, and thought to
himself : ' I do not mind if I never see you again, for I am
afraid of you all.' The fox, the wolf, the bear, and the
eagle went away. They saw a glade in the wood, and
rested there. The fox said to his companions : ' Now, let

100 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

us build a good house for our master.' They all agreed,
and set to work. The wolf cut down trees, the bear cut the
wood into shape, and did the joiner work, the eagle carried
it, and the fox gave orders. When the wood was ready, they
set to and built the house. They built so beautiful a house
that the prince could not have imagined one like it, even in
his dreams. Everything was finished, but there was no
furniture in it.

The fox arose and took his companions into a neigh-
bouring town. They went into the bazaar, and looked at
the house-furniture. Each one had his work to do again.
The fox chose the goods, the wolf was ordered to break the
shutters, the bear to carry the things to the door, and the
eagle to take everything to the palace. They seized every-
thing necessary for furnishing a house — domestic utensils,
carpets, and vessels. They carried them to the palace, and
placed them there ; so now all was finished, and there was
nothing more left to wish for.

Two weeks had expired, so the four went home. The
prince was hunting, but they went to meet him. They
surrounded him, and would not let him pass. The fox
cried out : ' I command thee to come with us whither we
lead thee.' The prince was afraid, he did not know what
it could mean, but went with them. In a little while they
arrived in the glade. It was girt by a wall over which no
bird could fly. They opened the gates and went inside.
When the king's son saw, he was stupefied with surprise.
Inside the wall was laid out a beautiful garden, with
fountains playing, and there stood a magnificent palace.
Then they said: 'We have made all this ready in two
weeks, now live happily in it.' The prince rejoiced greatly,
and gave hearty thanks to his fox.

THE FOX AND THE KING'S SON loi

Some time passed after this. The fox said : ' I must see
if I can ^find a good wife for my master.' He came to the
prince, and again asked a fortnight's absence. Then he
went away and made a sledge. He harnessed the wolf and
bear to it, and said to the eagle : ' Fly up high, and keep a
watch ; when thou seest a beautiful princess, seize her in
thy claws and carry her off.' He himself sat down and
acted as coachman. Thus they travelled from place to
place.

In the villages, the fox played the trumpet, and the bear
and the wolf leaped and danced along. Crowds of people
came out to look. When they came to the capital, a
maiden, fair as the sun, looked from her window, the eagle
seized her in his claws, and flew off. The bear and the
wolf turned round and started for home. When the people
saw this, they all set off in pursuit. The fox was behind
his companions, and the dogs came nearer, and almost
touched his cloak, but in some way or other they all
escaped, and brought the fair one to their master.

The king's son could scarcely stand on his feet for joy.
The princess's father was in the greatest consternation, and
said : ' To him who finds and brings back my daughter
will I give the half of my kingdom.' But none was able to
find trace of her. At last an old woman appeared, and
said to the king: 'I will find thy daughter.' She arose
and went forth. At last she came to the prince's house,
and asked : ' Do ye not want an attendant ? I will come
for small wages.' The fox, wolf, bear, and even the beauti-
ful princess herself, said : ' We do not want thee, we shall
not take thee.' But the prince did not agree with them,
and engaged her as servant.

The old woman served them faithfully for a long time.

I02 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

and did not harm them. Then one day, when the prince
was asleep, the old woman wanted the princess to go out
into the garden with her. She did not wish to go, but the
old woman pressed her until she consented. When they
came to the fountains, the old woman offered her some
water. The princess refused it, but the old woman insisted.
She placed a litra (large jar) full of water to her lips, and
it suddenly swallowed up the princess. Then the old
woman put it to her own mouth, and it swallowed her. The
litra rolled away. The fox saw and pursued, but that
which he sought was soon lost to sight.

The fox reproached his master, but it was no use saying
anything now. He asked again for a fortnight's leave,
made another sledge like the former, and harnessed the
bear and wolf to it. He sat up on the seat, and held
tambourines in his paws. He struck them, and the wolf
and bear pranced and danced along. The eagle flew up
high, and looked round. All the people in the land came
out to gaze at the sight. The king was angry with his
beautiful daughter, and said, ' Do not go out ! Do not even
look out.' The eagle watched for a long time, but could
not see her. At last he caught a glimpse of the princess
through a little window; he struck against it, broke it,
seized the princess, and flew away. He rejoined his com-
panions, and all hastened oif.

They brought the princess to their master. The king
collected all his army, and sent the old woman with it to
the prince's palace. The fox saw them appearing in the
distance like a swarm of flies. He ordered the eagle to
carry stones up high in the air. When the army approached,
the eagle let the stones fall on the men ; the fox, the bear,
and the wolf attacked them, and completely exterminated

THE FOX AND THE KING'S SON 103

them. There escaped only one single man ; they fell upon
him too, gnawed one of his feet, and said : ' Go and tell thy
king what has befallen his hosts.'

When the king saw his man, and heard the sad end of
his army, he was out of his mind with grief. He assembled
all the chief priests in his kingdom, went in front of them,
and they all came on bended knees. When they were near,
the fox saw them, and told his master. The prince ran out
to meet them, raised them all on their feet, and took them
into his house. The father and son-in-law became recon-
ciled, and lived happily together. Then the fox said to his
master : ' I am getting old now, and the day of my death
will soon be here, promise to bury me in a fowl-house.'
The prince promised. The fox said to himself : ' Come, I
will see if my master means to keep his promise,' and he
stretched himself out as if he were dead. When the prince
saw the corpse, he ordered it to be taken away and thrown
into the earth.

The fox was enraged, jumped up and cried out : ' Is this
the way thou rememberest my goodness to thee? Well,
since thou hast done thus, when I die you will all be
cursed, and there will not remain a trace of you.' Some
time after this the fox died. After his death, his
word came to pass, and they were all destroyed.
The wolf, the bear, and the eagle re-
mained masters of the field.^

' Cf. Carnoy et Nicolaides : Traditions Populaires de tAsie Mineure,
p. I, 'Le Roman du Renard.'

I04 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

XVI

The King and the Apple'

THERE was and there was not at all (of God's best
may it be !), there was a king. When the day of
his death was drawing nigh, he called his son to him, and
said : ' In the day when thou goest to hunt in the east, take
this coffer, but only open it when thou art in dire distress.'

The king died, and was buried in the manner he had
wished. The prince fell into a state of grief, and would not
go outside the door. At last the ministers of state came to
the new king, and proposed to him that he should go out
hunting. The king was delighted with the idea, and set
out for the chase with his suite.

They went eastwards, and killed a great quantity of
game. On their way home, the young monarch saw a tower
near the road, and wished to know what was in it. He
asked one of his viziers to go and try to find out about it.
He obeyed, but first said :

' I hope to return in three days, and if I do not I shall be dead. '

Three days passed, and the vizier did not return. The
king sent a second, a third, a fourth, but not one of them
came back. Then he rose and went himself. When he
arrived, he saw written over the door : ' Enter and thou
wilt repent ; enter not and thou wilt repent.'

' I must do one or the other,' said the king to himself,
' so I shall go in.'

He opened the door and went in. Behold ! there stood
twelve men with drawn swords. They took his hand and
led him into twelve rooms. When he was come into the
twelfth, he saw a golden couch, on which was stretched a
boy of eight or nine years of age. His eyes were closed,
and he did not utter a word. The king was told :
* From KaHhuli Kristoviatia (Tiflis, 1885), p. 85.

THE KING AND THE APPLE 105

'Thou mayst ask him three questions, but if he does
not understand and answer all of them, thou must lose thy
head.'

The king became very sad, but at last remembered the
coffer his father had given him. ' What greater misfortune
can I have than to lose my head?' said he to himself. He
took out the coffer and opened it ; from it there fell out an
apple, which rolled towards the couch. ' What help can
this be to me ? ' said the king.

But the apple began to speak, and told the following tale
to the boy : — ' A certain man was travelling with his wife
and brother, when night fell, and they had no food. The
woman's brother-in-law went into a neighbouring village to
buy bread ; on the way he met brigands, who robbed him
and cut off his head. When his brother did not return, the
man went to look for him; he met the same fate. The
next day the unhappy woman went to seek them, and there
she saw her husband and brother-in-law lying in one place
with their heads cut off; around was a pool of blood. The
woman sat down, tore her hair, and began to weep bitterly.
At that moment there jumped out a little mouse. It began
to lick the blood, but the woman took a stone, threw it at
the mouse, and killed it. Then the mouse's mother came
out and said : " Look at me, I can bring my child back to
life, but what canst thou do for thy husband and his
brother?" She pulled up an herb, applied it to the little
mouse, and it was restored to life. Then they both dis-
appeared in their hole. The woman rejoiced greatly when she
saw this ; she also plucked of the same herb, put the heads
on the bodies, and applied it to them. Her husband and
brother-in-law both came back to life, but alas ! she had put
the wrong heads on the bodies. Now, my sage youth ! tell
me, which was the woman's husband ? ' concluded the apple.

io6 GEORGIAN FOLK TALES

He opened his eyes, and said : ' Certainly it was he who
had the right head.'

The king was very glad.

' A joiner, a tailor, and a priest were travelling together at
one time,' began the apple. 'Night came on when they were
in a wood ; they lighted a huge fire, had their supper, and
then said : " Do not let us be deprived of employment, each
of us shall in turn watch, and do something in his trade."
The joiner's turn came first. He cut down a tree, and out
of it he fashioned a man. Then he lay down, and went to
sleep, while the tailor mounted guard. When he saw the
wooden man, he took off his clothes and put them on it.
Last of all, the priest acted as sentinel. When he saw the
man he said : ' I will pray to God that He may give this
man a soul." He prayed, and his wish was granted.'

' Now, my boy, canst thou tell me who made the man? '

' H6 who gave him the soul.'

The king was pleased, and said to himself: 'That is two.'
The apple again went on : ' There were a diviner, a physi-
cian, and a swift runner. The diviner said : " There is a
certain prince who is ill with such and such a disease." The
physician said : " I know a cure for it." " I will run with it,"
said the swift runner. The physician prepared the medicine,
and the man ran with it. Now tell me who cured the
king's son ? ' said the apple.

' He who made the medicine,' replied the boy. When he

had given the three answers, the apple rolled back into the

casket, and the king put it in his pocket. The boy arose,

embraced the king, and kissed him : ' Many men have been

here, but I have not been able to speak before : now tell

me what thou wishest, and I will do it.' The king

asked that his viziers might be restored to life, and

they all went away with rich presents.

II

MINGRELIAN TALES

MINGRELIAN TALES^

The Three Precepts

THERE was, there was, there was, there was, and
nothing there was.^ In a certain country, a certain
realm, a certain region, a certain village, there was an orphan
so poor, so poor, that 'tween heaven and earth nought could
be found that was his. Being in such a plight to-day, to-
morrow, the day after to-morrow, this week, next week,
this month, next month, sad and thoughtful he became ;
he thought, he thought, he thought, and at last made
up his mind : ' I will arise and try my [luck,' quoth he.
He rose betimes in the morning, called on the name of
God, turned himself to the right hand,^ and set forth from
the house.

He went, he went, he went, beyond the sky, across the
earth, across the forest, across the field, across the plain,

' Mingrelskie etyudy. Pervyi vypusk. Mingrelskie teksty s perevodom
i obyasneniyami, sobr. i izd. Al. Tsagareli. S. Pbg. 1880.

^ The Mingrelian Tales usually begin thus ; sometimes the formula
used is : ' there was, there was, there was, and nothing there was, but
nevertheless there was.'

" When a Mingrelian undertakes a journey, he turns to the right
several times before his door and then sets out. This is held to be a
favourable omen.

no MINGRELIAN TALES

over the mountains, he went as far as he could, and when
he looked he saw a man of graceful mien coming towards
him. The youth quickened his step and they met. ' I
wish thee victory, good youth ! ' ^ said the stranger, ' whither
goest thou ? ' ' May God send thee victory, my master,'
answered the young man, ' I go to seek a livelihood.' ' Be
my servant for three years, and I shall teach thee three
things that will afterwards be helpful,' said this clever
man to the youth. The youth agreed, and went away
with him.

At the end of a year's service, the clever man said to the
youth : ' Whatever thou seest outside thy yard, throw it into
the yard.' When the second year had passed, he again spoke
to the youth, and said : ' Lend nothing to anybody unless
thou art much pressed to do so.' The third year came
to an end, and it was time for the young man to depart ;
the clever man called him and said : ' Tell not thy secret to
a woman.' Then he bade him farewell, blessed him, and
sent him home. The youth set out : he went, he went, he
went by day, he went by night, over land, over water, and
when he reached home he began to establish himself, he
made a fence round his yard and, as he had been instructed,
threw into the yard all he found outside the yard.

One morning he went out and found on the road a red
snake ; he remembered the instruction of the clever man
and threw the snake into the yard. A week later, the young
man noticed that on the place where he had thrown the
snake, it had laid a multitude of precious stones. ^ It is no

^ The usual salutation in Georgia.

^ The word Khvitho in Mingrelian signifies a precious stone laid by
a snake or a fowl, which turns into gold or precious stones whatever it
touches.

THE THREE PRECEPTS iii

wonder that the youth was greatly pleased at this. He
gathered up the snake and the precious stones in the skirt
of his garment, and put the snake in a nest in his own house.
Every day the snake laid him a precious stone. The youth
became wealthy : he built himself a fine house, took a wife,
and lived like a lord. Still the snake went on laying pre-
cious stones, the youth became richer and richer, and gave
himself up to gladness. One day his wife said to him :
' Young man ! who has made thee so fabulously rich, for
thou wast formerly poorer than any one on earth.' 'Who?
God gave me wealth,' said the husband, following the clever
man's advice, not revealing his secret. But the woman gave
him no peace; day and night she always asked the same thing:
'How didst thou become wealthy? — thou must tell me,
thou must.' The youth had no way of escape, she wearied
him out, and at last made him tell her all about the snake.
Since there was nothing else to be done, the young man
took his wife and showed her the snake that laid precious
stones. After this, it happened that the snake ceased to lay
precious stones ; the young man's wealth began to diminish,
and nothing was added to it.

When he was in this state, a certain man came and asked
him for the loan of a knife. Of course, being utterly cast
down with grief and sorrow, he remembered not the words the
clever man had spoken to him, and lent the knife. May it
happen to thine enemy as it happened to him ! It happened
that this wretched man was a thief. When he had got the
knife he went and broke into a house to steal ; there he
thrust the knife into the belly of a sleeping man, slew
him, and left the knife in the dead man's body, then
pillaged the house. Afterwards an enquiry was made into
the matter. They found the knife in the man who had been

112 MINGRELIAN TALES

killed and robbed, and it turned out to be the knife of the
young man. Of course he was taken and bound, all his
goods were seized, and he was treated as a thief ought to
be treated. Thus did it happen to the wretched youth who
disobeyed the instructions of the clever man.

Yester eve I was there,
This evening I am here. . . .
Three apples,^ three pomegranates,
May God send thee.
Ripe in thy hands.

The tale, the tale is ended. . . .
Thou hast eaten maize-bread with ashes, ^
Thou hast drunk bad, stale wine,
And eaten a rotten walnut.'

II

Kazha-ndii

THERE was once a king who had three sons and three
daughters. When the day of his death was come,
he called all his children, and said to his sons : ' Hearken
to my will, and see that ye fulfil it. When I die, let each
of you watch my tomb for one week, give these maidens to
the suitors who ask for their hands.' After he had said
farewell, the king died.

He was buried, and on the first night the eldest brother
went to guard the grave. But in a short time something

* Cf. Carnoy et Nicolaides; Traditions dt VAsie Mineure, p. 42.

^ Chkidi, bread made of Indian corn, is generally used in Mingrelia.
It is cooked on the ashes, and the latter are often found sticking to it.

' These verses form the concluding formula of Mingrelian folk-tales.
The second couplet is not so frequently used »s the first.

KAZHA-NDII 113

began to approach with a mighty noise, and when it came
near, it was so strong that it drove the prince out of the
enclosure. From a distance, the prince saw how the being
that had come with noise went to the king's grave, dug up
the corpse, and wept over it till morning ; when morning
came, it buried the corpse in the earth again, and went away.
When the prince reached home, he was ashamed to say
anything about what had happened.

At that time, both the elder brothers set out for the chase ;
the youngest brother was left at home, he heard a voice and
looked round. It turned out to be a suitor for the hand of
his sister. He took and gave him the eldest sister. Soon
after, he again heard a voice. The prince looked round —
another suitor had come. The absence of his brothers
somewhat disturbed him, but, according to his father's will,
he married his second sister also. A little later, a third
voice was heard, and to him he gave his third sister.

In the evening, when the two elder brothers came home,
they did not see their sisters ; they asked the youngest, and
he told them what had happened. They were not pleased,
and sent him out to feed the sheep. That night the middle
brother went to guard the king's grave ; the same thing
happened to him as to his elder brother, but he too was
silent on the subject. When he reached home, the youngest
brother began to entreat his elder brothers, saying : ' Be
just, let me also watch my father's grave.' But they were
angry, and answered : ' Get thee gone, how couldst thou
guard the grave when we are not able to do it ! ' But
afterwards they said one to the other : ' Let us allow him
to go.'

So the youth went, came to the tomb of his father,
lighted a candle, and, as soon as he sat down, an uproar

H

114 MINGRELIAN TALES

began, but he was not affrighted. At the approach of the
monster an earthquake began, but the youth was not afraid,
he swung his sword round his head, and cleft the monster in
twain, but the monster's blood put out the candle. Look-
ing round, the youth saw, some way off, the blaze of a fire.
He arose and went thither. On his way he said to the
cock : ' Crow not, so that dawn break not till I come back
again, or I shall slay thee.' When he came near, he met
with a vast river like a sea. When he had swum over and
reached the other side, the youth saw that the fire was
burning among the demis^ who were sitting round it — so he
stopped and bethought himself seriously ; but, at last, he
took a leap, jumped into the middle of them, seized a burn-
ing brand, and ran away.

The burning cinders and ashes were showered over the
demis, but they did not see the youth. The youth went
back, but as he crossed the river the burning log went out.
He was angry at this, but what could he do ? He went
back again, and when he threw himself upon the fire the
demis caught him, and asked what he wanted. He told
them. The demis said to him : ' In yonder castle there
dwell three maidens unseen by the sun,^ thou must bring
them to us or we will not let thee go.' The youth asked

^ demi, dii, ndii in Mingrelian, devi, tndevi in Georgian (connected
with Pers. div), a representative of the principle of evil, but with certain
limitations, neither incorporeal nor immortal, but half demon half man,
i.e. an unclean spirit in the form of a giant. He is subject to death,
even a man can kill, cheat, terrify him ; he can marry a woman, etc.

° This phrase is continually applied to beautiful girls in Georgian
poetry. It has three meanings : (i) A girl strictly kept, and not seen
out of doors ; (2) One who is not sunburnt, fair complexioned ; (3) A
maiden such as the sun has never seen the like of for beauty. The last
meaning is the most frequent.

KAZHA-NDII 115

them: 'Is there a ladder up to the castle?' They an-
swered : ' Yes.' ' Then let us go,' said he.

He took all the demis with him, and said : ' I shall climb
up first, then you must come one by one.' They agreed.
The youth went up, one demi came after him. As soon as
the first demi reached the top, the youth brandished his
sword, slew him, and laid down his body. When the second
came up, he did likewise unto him. Thus he slew them all,
one by one, and left their bodies there.

Then he went in, saluted the maidens, and gave each of
them a ring — to the youngest for himself, to the others for
his brothers. The youth went out, thrust his sword into a
stone, and left it there, took fire with him, and went back.
When he had crossed the river, he cried to the cock : ' Now
crow ! ' Then he went to his father's grave. Till dawn he
stayed there, and then he went home.

The beautiful maidens told the king what had happened.
The king ordered all his subjects to be summoned, and
asked : ' Who is able to draw this sword out of the stone ? '
But nobody could draw it out. Then the king made a pro-
clamation : ' To him that can draw out this sword I will
give my daughter.' The princes, as soon as they heard of
this, decided to go thither. When they were making ready
for the journey, the youngest asked his brothers to take him
too. At last they consented to take him. When they
arrived, they found a great uproar : people from all parts of
the world were, in turn, laying hold of the sword, but could
not draw it out. Last of all, the youngest brother came up,
pulled out his sword, put it in the scabbard, and said to the
king: 'All three daughters are ours now, for I have two
brothers.' He called his brothers, and they took the three
maidens to wife. Great merry-making began.

ii6 MINGRELIAN TALES

The king gave to the wife of the youngest prince a flying
carpet, which carried away any one who sat on it. The
princess sat on it, and followed her suite. The groomsmen
and youths set out with them. When they had gone half
way, a monster swooped down on the princess and carried
her off. A sad uproar began, but what was to be done ?
The young prince said to his brothers : ' Farewell ! I must
perish with her,' and went away.

He went, he went, he went, he went as far as he could,
and in a field he found a spring, beside which he lay down.
There came a boy with a water jug. The prince asked :
' Whose village is this ? ' The boy replied : ' Here dwell
three brother demis, all married to daughters of one king.'

When the youth heard this he was glad, for it turned out
that his sisters dwelt here. When he came near, the sisters
went out to meet him. It is easy to imagine how glad they
were to see him. When it was dark, the three demis re-
turned. One of the sisters went out to meet them, and
said : ' My brother is come.' The demis answered : ' If
the elder brothers are come, we can make roast meat of
them, if it be the youngest, we shall know how to do him
honour.' The demis went in, and kissed the youth for joy
at meeting him.

As they were all sitting round the hearth, the demis began
to sigh deeply. The youth asked them : ' Why do you
sigh ? ' ' Why ? — we are sorry for that poor damsel !
Kazha-Ndii-Kerkun {i.e. the swift, flint-like demi) was carry-
ing through the air a golden-haired woman ; we pursued,
but only succeeded in pulling off a lock of the woman's
hair.' They showed the hair to the youth. As soon as he
saw it he fainted, crying : ' Ah ! woe is me ! woe is me ! '
The demis asked him what was wrong. He told them all.

KAZHA-NDII 117

As soon as day dawned, the youth arose, and made ready to
depart. The demis were very sorry at this, but what could
they do ? They gave him a horse and a Httle dog.

The youth set out, and came to the house of Kazha-Ndii ;
but Kazha-Ndii was not at home. He dismounted, and
went in to the princess ; when they saw each other, their
joy was so great that they fell to the ground. The princess
said to him : ' O youth, why hast thou sought thy doom ?
Against Kazha-Ndii thou canst do nothing.' But the young
man would not hearken, and lifted her on to his horse.

As soon as they reached the gate, it creaked so loudly
that a star fell from heaven. The door cried : ' Kazha-
Ndii-Kerkun, where art thou ? they have carried off thy
wife.' Kazha-Ndii heard this, and pursued them. When
he was overtaking them, Kazha-Ndii's horse neighed so
loudly that it stopped the princess's horse. The princess
said to him : ' O youth, did I not tell thee how it would be ?
Save thyself at least.' Then Kazha-Ndii rode up, cut the
youth into pieces, and carried his wife back. The little dog
came up, gathered the scattered fragments of the young
man's body, put them in a bag, tied it to the saddle,
mounted the horse, and took the body to the demis.

When the demis saw it they wept greatly, but their
youngest brother blew the soul back into the pieces, and
raised the youth to life. The prince arose, and again made
ready to depart ; the youngest demi said to him : ' Here is
my three-legged horse,^ take him with thee ; if he do not
help thee there is no help to hope for.' The youth mounted
the horse, came again to his princess, took her and put her
on the horse. When he was riding out of the gate it creaked
more loudly than before. Kazha-Ndii heard it and pursued
' Cf. No. III. ' Geria's faithful dog and three-legged horse.'

ii8 MINGRELIAN TALES

them. As he was overtaking them, Kazha-Ndii's horse
neighed, and the youth's horse slackened its speed. The
young prince said to his horse : ' Why doest thou this ? '
' What can I do ? If I had a fourth leg I might be victorious.'
When Kazha-Ndii came near, the three-legged horse neighed
so loudly that it stopped Kazha-Ndii's horse. Then the
youth came up to him, brandished his sword, cut Kazha-
Ndii into halves, put the princess on his horse, and
they rode merrily away. They visited the demis
and then went home.

Ill

The Story of Geria, the Poor Man's Son

THERE was once a poor married man who had only
one son ; but this son was very handsome and strong,
and his name was Geria.^ Once the youth went out to
hunt, and when he was coming home in the evening he
met a woman with a jar going to the spring for water ; he
aimed an arrow at her, and broke the jar. The woman
turned to him and said : ' If thou art so warlike, instead of
breaking my pot why dost thou not go and fetch the only
sister of the twelve demis that dwell beyond the twelve
mountains ? ' When he heard this, the youth's heart began
to beat wildly for eagerness to see the maiden.

He went home and said to his parents : ' Get ready food
to last me a year, and if I do not come back in that time
set out to seek for me.' His parents would not consent,

' Geria means little wolf. In Mingrelia there are many such nick-
names, — e.g. Joghoria, little dog ; Lomikia, little lion ; Tholiorko,
golden-eyed, etc.

GERIA, THE POOR MAN'S SON 119

but said : ' We have no child but thee, wilt thou go away
from us and perish?' They wept with one accord, but
Geria heeded them not. So they got him provisions.
They bade him farewell with sobs. Such wailing was there
that the parting was known throughout the country side,
yea, even to sun and moon, to heaven and earth, to the sea
and the sands thereof. At last they blessed their son and
let him go. He took with him a little dog, whose name
was Mathicochi.i When they took leave one of another,
they embraced, they kissed, and the youth sped on his
way.

He went, he went, he went, he went as much as he
could — week and week, week and fortnight, a year and
three months, ^ — he went over six mountains. When he had
crossed these six mountains everything round about him
began to reel : trees and stones fell down and clattered
into the valleys, but Geria was not hurt by them. Then,
from beneath, there came to him a voice, saying : ' What
kind of man art thou to stand thus against me. Who can
resist ire but Geria, the poor man's son.' ' 'Tis I — Geria,
the poor man's son.'

When she heard this, the Rokapi ^ went out to meet
him, bowed herself, did great honour to him, and said :
' Whither wilt thou go ? ' The youth told her all. The
Rokapi was moved with sorrow. Geria asked her : ' Why

1 Meaning : ' I also am a human being. '

2 Three years, three months, and three weeks are the usual measures
of time in Mingrelian tales.

2 Rokapi in Georgian tales is an old woman of a demoniacal char-
acter, possessing enchanted castles and domains; sometimes the word
simply means witch, and in ordinary conversation it is applied to an
ugly, ill-natured, toothless old hag.

120 MINGRELIAN TALES

dost thou grieve ? ' — ' For that I have seen many go thither,
but I have seen none come back.' But Geria heeded her
not, and went on his way.

He went, he went, he went more than he could, and
when he had crossed the other six mountains a still greater
earthquake began. It turned out that this region belonged
to the eldest sister of the Rokapis ; but Geria showed no
sign of fear. The Rokapi cried to him : ' What manner
of man art thou to resist my witchcraft ? Art thou Geria,
the poor man's son ? ' He cried out to her : ' I am he.' The
Rokapi at once went out to meet him, bowed herself,
treated him with respect, and asked him : ' Whither art
thou going ? ' Geria told her his plan, and this Rokapi too
was distressed. Geria asked her why she grieved. She
answered : ' Because I have seen many on their way thither,
but I have never seen one come back ; albeit, I will do thee
one service, I give thee my three-legged horse.' She called
the horse, and said to him : ' As long as Geria lives serve
him faithfully.' Geria bade her farewell, mounted the
horse, and rode away with his little dog Mathicochi.

He rode out into a great meadow, and came near the
abode of the demis. When he looked upon the mead his
heart was glad, and his eyes filled with tears, he bethought
him of his home and its beautiful fields, he uttered a bless-
ing to God the merciful. Then he urged his horse onward,
at such speed that clouds of dust rose behind him. The
youth said to himself: 'Lo, I am now in the unknown
land ! ' Up he rode to the demis' gate, leaped from his horse,
and tied it there.

He walked away a little, and then cried : ' Methinks 1
have not fastened my horse securely ! ' Back he went, tore
up an oak by the roots, planted it with its branches down-

GERIA, THE POOR MAN'S SON i2i

wards in the earth, and firmly tied his horse to it. Then
the horse said : ' If thou hadst not done this I should have
fled home, but now do as I tell thee, and all will be well.
The demis are indoors ; go to the meadow, there thou wilt
find a kettle, overturn it. Then betake thyself to the
damsel, and get her to plight her troth to thee.'

Geria went, kicked the kettle, turned it over three times,
and left it upside down, then he went to the maiden, broke
all the locks, and came to the room where she was. She
was astonished, but the youth's bravery pleased her, and, to
make a long story short, she promised to marry him. The
youth went out merrily to the place where he had left his
horse. There he quietly spent the night, and next morning
the horse said : ' The demis have now gone out to the
meadow; when they saw the kettle turned over they
marvelled, for it usually takes all the twelve demis to turn
over that kettle, and they said one to another : " Whatever
we are commanded by him that turned over the kettle that
must we do," — now it is time for thee to go thither.' Geria
went to the meadow.

As soon as the demis saw him, they all arose hastily, went
to meet him, bowed themselves, and said : ' What dost thou
ask of us ? ' He answered : ' You must give me your sister
to wife.' The demis said : ' We give her to thee, but the
Black King will not let thee take her.' Geria answered :
' I fear no man,' so (not to lengthen unduly a long story)
they made ready a banquet.

While the feast was still going on, in the morning, Geria
looked out of the door, and saw a host of men in black
apparel, who had been sent by the Black King. Geria
mounted his horse, dashed into the midst and defeated
them all ; three only did he save alive, as messengers, and

122 MINGRELIAN TALES

sent them to say to the Black King : ' 'Tis I that have done
this, Geria, the poor man's son.'

The King was very wroth, and sent almost all his army
against him. When Geria saw them, he bethought himself
a little, but the horse said to him : ' Youth ! this is nothing,
look for still worse.' Geria struck the horse with his whip,
attacked the host, and slew all but one ; him he sent to
bear the news. Upon this, the king went out of himself
with rage : he summoned his devoted and loyal slave to
whom he was wont to apply in all his difficulties, by name
Qvamuritz Khami ; ' to him he committed all that was left
of the army, and sent him out.

Geria arose and saw a sight, such a sight as I wish thine
enemy may see. It pleased him not to see Qvamuritz
Khami ; but what could be done ? The horse said to him :
' Youth ! yonder is he of whom I spake.' Geria crossed
himself, gave thanks to God, bade his wife farewell, for he
thought to die, and went out. First of all he slew the army,
and then he began a single combat with Qvamuritz Khami.

Mounted they fought with maces, but the battle was not
to the strong, for Qvamuritz Khami's soul was safe in other
hands — how could he be killed ? Qvamuritz Khami cried :
' O young man ! thus shouldst thou shoot ! ' and slew him.
When Geria was dead, the victor slaughtered all the demis,
took Geria's wife, put her on her husband's horse, and
carried her off to his master.

But she said to the king : ' I am the widow of such a
man that I will not belong to a man like thee ; either do
battle with me, and let the conqueror have his will, or give
me leave to wear mourning for three months.' The king
feared to fight with her, for she was of the demi race, so he
^ i.e. he that has a star in his brow.

GERIA, THE POOR MAN'S SON 123

gave her a respite of three months. When Geria was killed,
his head rolled one way and his body another ; his faithful
dog Mathicochi went and put the two pieces together, and
lay down to guard them.

While all these things had been happening, a year had
passed, and when Geria's parents saw that he did not return,
they set out to seek him. When they came to a narrow
road, they saw that several snakes had met and were fight-
ing, and all fell dead ; then two great snakes crawled out,
threw themselves into the river, swam out again and be-
gan to crawl over the dead snakes in various directions.
They were all restored to life. Geria's parents wondered
at the sight, and said one to the other : ' Let us take a little
of this water.' They took a thimblefuU of it.

When they approached, the little dog, Mathicochi, saw
them, and ran to meet them ; sadly he took them to the
dead body. When the unhappy parents saw Geria dead,
they both fell to the ground and sobbed bitterly ; then they
remembered that the mother of the unfortunate youth had
the wonderful water with her. As soon as they sprinkled
Geria with it he came to life, and said : ' Woe is me ! what
a long time I have slept ! ' When he saw his parents, he
was glad, but, remembering all that had befallen him, he
again grew sad, and bade his parents farewell once more.
They wept much, but, putting their trust in God, armed
themselves with patience.

Geria set out for the land of the Black King, and when
he came near, went into a great forest ; as he entered, he
heard a very great noise. He stopped, and there, on the
road, he saw some one coming along, destroying all the forest
as he went, tree fell on tree ; he looked steadily, and saw a
great boar rushing straight towards him ; he threw himself

124 MINGRELIAN TALES

on it, lifted it, and cast it three shoulders' lengths ^ away
from him ; but they wrestled again, they wrestled, they
wrestled, three whole days they wrestled. At last the youth
was victorious, and tore the wild boar into halves. From the
lacerated boar there leaped out a wild goat. When the youth
killed the wild goat, there fell from it a little box ; when he
broke the box, three swallows flew from it, — two of them he
killed, the third he caught and kept.

At that time Qvamuritz Khami fell ill, the agony of death
came upon him, for it turned out that this swallow was his
soul. Geria killed the swallow, and Qvamuritz Khami died.^
After this, Geria went into the king's palace, and slew all

therein excepting his wife. Her he took to his parents,

whose patience and grief were exchanged for great

joy. They all went home together.

IV

The Prince who befriended the Beasts

THERE was a king, and he had three sons. Once he
fell ill, and became blind in both eyes. He sent his
sons for a surgeon. All the surgeons agreed that there was
a fish of a rare kind by the help of which the king might be
cured.^ They made a sketch of the fish, and left it with the
sick monarch.

1 The orgia, i.e. shoulder, is a measure of length equal to the space
from finger-tips to finger-tips of the hands when extended horizontally

- Cf. with this the end of 'Master and Pupil' on p. 5.

' Cf. the beginning of ' Gulambara and Sulambara ' on p. 42 ; also the
Biblical story of Tobit and the Angel.

THE PRINCE AND THE BEASTS 125

The king commanded his eldest son to go and catch that
fish in the sea. A hundred men with their nets were lost
in the sea, but nought could they find like the fish they
sought. The eldest son came home to his father and said :
'I have found nothing.' This displeased the king, but
what could he do ? Then the second son set out, taking
with him a hundred men also, but all his men were lost too,
and he brought back nothing.

After this, the youngest brother went. He had recourse
to cunning ; he took with him a hundred kilas ^ of flour and
one man. He came to the sea, and every day he strewed
flour in the water, near the shore, until all the flour was
used up ; the fishes grew fat on the flour, and said : ' Let
us do a service to this youth since he has enabled us to
grow fat '; so, as soon as the youth threw a net into the sea,
he at once drew out the rare fish he sought. He wrapped
it up in the skirt of his robe, and went his way.

As he rode along, some distance from his companion, he
heard a voice that said : ' O youth, I am dying ! ' But on
looking round he saw no man, and continued his journey.
After a short time, he again heard the same words. He
looked round more carefully, but saw nothing. Then he
glanced at the skirt of his robe, and saw that the fish had
its mouth open, and was dying. The youth said to it :
' What dost thou want ? ' The fish answered : ' It will be
better for thee if thou wilt let me go, some day I shall be of
use to thee.' The youth took it and threw it into the water,
saying to his comrade : ' I hope thou wilt not betray me.'

When he reached home, he told his father that he had
been unsuccessful. Some time passed. Once the prince
quarrelled with his comrade, and the latter ran off and told
1 Kila, a measure of flour = about 36 to 40 pounds.

126 MINGRELIAN TALES

the king how his son had deceived him. When the king
heard this, he ordered his son to be taken away and killed.
He was taken out, but when they were about to kill him, the
youth entreated them, saying : ' What doth it profit you if
you slay me ? If you let me go, 'twill be a good deed,
and I shall flee to foreign lands.' The executioners took
pity on him, and set him free; he thanked them, and
departed.

He went, he went, he went, he went farther than anybody
ever went — he came to a great forest. As he went through
the forest, he saw a deer running, in a great state of alarm.
The youth stopped, and fixed his gaze on it ; then the deer
came up and fell on its face before him. The youth asked :
' What ails thee ? ' ' The prince pursues me, and on thee
depends my safety.' The youth took the deer with him and
went on. A huntsman met him, and asked : ' Whither art
thou leading the deer ? ' The youth replied : ' One king
has sent it as a gift to another king, and, lo ! I am taking it."
The youth thus saved the deer from death, and the deer
said : 'A time will come when I shall save thy life.'

The youth went on his way : he went, he went, he went,
so far he went, good sir, that the ' three day colt ' (of fable)
could not go so far. He looked, and, lo ! a frightened eagle
perched on his shoulder, and said : ' Youth, on thee depends
my safety ! ' The youth protected it also from its pursuer.
Then the eagle said to him : ' Some day I shall do thee a
service.'

The youth went on : he went through the forest, he went,
he went, he went, he went farther than he could, he went a
week, two weeks, a year and three months. Then he heard
some fearful rumbling, roaring, thunder and lightning —
something was coming through the forest, breaking down

THE PRINCE AND THE BEASTS 127

all the trees. A great jackal appeared, and ran up to the
youth, saying : ' If thou wilt thou canst protect me ; the
prince is pursuing me with all his army.' The youth saved
the jackal, as he had saved the other animals. Then the
jackal said : ' Some day I shall help thee.'

The youth went on his way, and, when he was out of the
wood, came to a town. In this town he found a castle of
crystal, in the courtyard of which he saw a great number of
young men, some dying and some dead. He asked the
meaning of this, and was told : ' The king of this land has a
daughter, a maiden queen; she has made a proclamation
that she will wed him that can hide himself from her ; but
no man can hide himself from her, and all these men has she
slain, for he that cannot hide himself from her is cast down
from the top of the castle.'

When the youth heard this, he at once arose, and went to
the maiden. They bowed themselves each to the other.
The maiden asked him : ' Wherefore art thou come hither ?'
The youth answered : ' I come for that which others have
come for.' She immediately called her viziers together, and
they wrote out the usual contract.

The youth went out from the castle, came to the seashore,
sat down, and was soon buried in thought. Just then,
something made a great splash in the sea, came and
swallowed the youth, carried him into the Red Sea, there
they were hidden in the depths of the sea, near the shore.
The youth remained there all that night.

When the maiden arose next morning she brought her
mirror and looked in it, but she found nothing in the sky,
she looked on the dry land, and found nothing there, she
looked at the sea — and then she saw the youth in the belly
of the fish, which was hiding in the deep waters. After a

128 MINGRELIAN TALES

short time, the fish threw up the youth on the place where
it had found him. He went merrily to the maiden. She
asked: 'Well, then, didst thou hide thyself?' 'Yes, I hid
myself.' But the maiden told him where he had been, and
how he got there, and added : ' This time I forgive thee, for
the cleverness thou hast shown.'

The youth set out again, and sat down in a field. Then
something fell upon him, and took him up into the air,
lifted him up into the sky, and covered him with its wing.
When the maiden arose next morning, she looked in her
mirror, she gazed at the mountain, she gazed at the
earth, but she found nothing, she looked at the sky, and
there she saw how the eagle was covering the youth.
The eagle carried the youth down, and put him on the
ground. He was joyful, thinking that the maiden could
not have seen him ; but when he came to her she told
him all.

Then he fell into deep melancholy, but the maiden, being
struck with wonder at his cunning in hiding himself, told
him that she again forgave him. He went out again,
and, as he was walking in the field, the deer came to him
and said: 'Mount on my back.' He mounted, and the
deer carried him away, away, away over all the mountains
that were there, and put him in a lair. When the
maiden arose next morning, she found him, and when
he came back to her she said : ' Young man, it seems that
thou hast many friends, but thou canst not hide thyself
from me; yet this day also I forgive thee.' The youth
went sadly away ; he had lost confidence.

When he sat down in the field, an earthquake began,
the town shook, lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and when
a thunderbolt had fallen, there leapt out from it his friend

THE CUNNING OLD MAN 129

the gigantic jackal, and said to him : ' Fear not, O youth ! '
The jackal had recourse to its wonted cunning, it began to
scrape at the earth ; it dug, it dug, it dug, and burrowed right
up to the place where the maiden dwelt, and then it said
to the youth : ' Stay thou here, she will look at the sky, the
mountain, the sea, and when she cannot find thee she will
break her mirror ; when thou hearest this, then strike thy
head through the ground and come out.'

This advice, of course, pleased the youth. When the maiden

arose in the morning, she looked at the sea, she found him

not, she looked at the mountain, she looked at the sky, and

still she could not see him, so she broke her mirror. Then

the youth pushed his head through the floor, bowed, and

said to the maiden : ' Thou art mine and I am thine ! '

They summoned the viziers, sent the news to the

king, and a great feast began.

The Cunning Old Man and the Demi

THERE was once an old man. He might have worked
but he was lazy. His children went out to the
fields, but this old man sat by the fire, and if they did not
show him great respect, he kept them out of the house.
His daughters-in-law quarrelled with him, and ended by turn-
ing him out of the house. He begged of his eldest
daughter-in-law, saying : ' Give me a jar of flour, an egg,i
and an awl, then I shall go away.' She gave him these
things.

The old man went on day and night, and came to the

1 A variant substitutes a cheese for an egg.
I

I30 MINGRELIAN TALES

bank of a stream ; he looked over, and saw on the other
side a demi, to whom he cried : ' Carry me across this river.'
The demi answered : ' I shall not carry thee, but thou shalt
carry me across, or I shall turn thee into dust.' The demi
seized a stone, struck it on the rocky bank, and turned the
great stone into powder. The old man also took his jar of
flour, struck it on the rock, and dust arose. The demi was
astonished, and said : ' How has he turned this stone into
powder ? ' The demi took another stone, squeezed it in his
hand, and said : ' I shall crush thee like this stone.' Then
the old man took out the egg, squeezed it, and when the
moisture began to ooze out, the demi was alarmed : he came
over the stream, took the old man on his shoulder, and
carried him across.

In the middle of the stream, the demi said to the old
man : ' How light thou art ! ' The old man answered : ' I
am holding on to the sky with one hand, if I let go, thou
wouldst fall under my weight.' The demi said : ' Just leave
go for a moment.' The old man took out the awl, and
stuck it in the demi's neck. The demi cried : ' Lay hold
of the sky again ! ' The old man put the awl in his
pocket.

When they had reached the other side, the demi said to the
old man : ' I shall drive in game, and thou canst meet it
here.' So the demi went and drove in the game. The old
man was afraid of wild beasts, and hid himself in the forest,
where he found a dead red-breast.^ When the demi retmneA,
he asked : ' What hast thou done with the game ? ' The
old man replied : ' Thou didst not drive the game properly,
or how could any beast that walks on earth escape from me,
that could catch this bird on the wing ? '
1 ? Finch.

THE CUNNING OLD MAN 131

The demi went and killed two deer, two wild goats, two
boars, two hares ; some he boiled, some he roasted, he made
ready two measures {kilas of 36 to 40 pounds) of millet, two
cocas (a coca= 25 bottles) of wine, and said : ' Let us sit down
and eat.' The old man said : ' Make me a bridge over this
river, there will I sup.' The demi built him a little bridge,
on which he seated himself. The demi gave him one deer,
one wild goat, one boar, one hare, one kila of millet, one
ceca of wine, and then sat down near him in the field. The
demi ate, but the old man threw the food into the river.
The demi thought the old man was eating everything, and
was afraid, thinking : ' It would seem that he can eat more
than I can.' Lower down the stream, wolves caught and
ate the meat the old man threw away. The old man
asked for another deer. The demi brought it, and the
old man threw it in the water. The demi did not
know this. The old man said : ' I have had a snack this
evening.'

Next day, the demi invited the old man to his house.
They went there. The demi went out alone to hunt. He
met a wolf and a jackal, and said to them : ' Come and
hunt with me. To my house there has come a guest who
can eat ten deer and wild goats ; yesterday evening we had
two deer, but they were a mere snack to him.' The wolf
and the jackal said to the demi : ' Thy guest did not eat one
of them, he threw everything into the river, we caught it
and ate it, the old man ate nothing.' The demi said to the
wolf and the jackal : ' Then let us go and expose this old
man's fraud.'

There went with the demi nine wolves and jackals, to give
evidence against the old man. The old man looked out,
and saw the demi coming along in front, with the wolves

132 MINGRELIAN TALES

and jackals behind him. The old man cried to the demi :
' Dost thou not owe me more than ten wolves and
jackals ? ' The wolves and jackals exchanged glances,
and said : ' It would seem that this demi has be-
trayed us.' They threw themselves on the demi
and turned him into dust.'

VI

Sanartia

THERE was once a king who reached old age without
having a son. When he was very old, his wife at last
bore him a son. The child was called Sanartia (i.e. desired,
longed for) ; he grew up, and became very good and very
clever, so that he understood everything that took place
among earthly beings, wherever they were ; but he did not
obey his mother. She therefore hated him, and said to the

' Another Mingrelian version of this story tells that the demi took
the old man home, and left him his house, wife and children. As he
was going away, the jackal met him, and asked whither he was going.
The demi replied that the old man had almost killed him, and he was
going to hide himself. The jackal told him to go home, and have no
fear of the old man, for it would choke him. The tltmi tied the jackal
to himself, with a stout rope, and went back. The old man met them
with the following words : ' This is splendid, my jackal — thou wast to
bring me nine demis, thou hast brought eight already, and this will
make the ninth. ' The demi was alarmed, he rushed off, dragging after
him the jackal, whom he knocked against twenty trees, and disappeared.
The old man stayed in the demi's house all the days of his life.

Cf. also 'The Strong Man and the Dwarf,' p. 147; Sir John Malcolm's
Sketches of Persia, ch. xvi. ' The Story of Ameen Beg of Ispahan,' and
' The Goat and the Lion ' in the Panchaiantra,

SANARTIA 133

king, her husband : ' Since this boy will not obey his mother
in anything, take him and throw him into the great deep sea.'

The king was much distressed, but he did as his wife
asked. The youth guessed what his parents were talking
about, but he showed no resistance. After this, his father said :
' Let us go and look at the town.' Then the youth said :
' Papa, give me a Httle money.' His father gave him money,
and they went to see the town. When they arrived, the
boy bought a little axe, knives, needle, thread, flint and
tinder.

When they were on their way home, they came near
the sea ; the boy pulled up an oak tree, and carried it
on his shoulder. The father was the first to see the sea,
and when they were on the shore he said to his son:
' Come hither, and see what a big fish I shall show thee.'
When the son came up to look, his father cast him into
the great sea, together with the tree he carried. A fish
swallowed the youth ; his father turned and went home.

In the sea, the youth kindled a fire in the fish's belly, cut
caviar out of it, roasted and ate it. On the caviar from this
fish the youth lived thirty years, in the belly of that fish.
Then, his firewood, flint and tinder being well-nigh ex-
hausted, he made a very big fire. When the fish felt the
heat, it leaped up and fell on the dry land. The youth said :
' I will cut open the fish's belly, and see — if it is in the
water, I shall sew it up again, if it is ashore, I shall make a
hole and get out' He cut a little, and saw that it was on
land. Then he cut a large opening, came out of the fish,
made a fire, cut flesh from the fish, roasted it, and ate it.

Just then, there passed a prince, on his way to marry a
maiden, and he saw the other prince coming out of the fish.
The prince who was going to seek his bride, sent a man to

134 MINGRELIAN TALES

the youth to ask him to make way, for he was sitting in the
road, and there was no other road for horsemen. But
Sanartia would not move. Then the prince himself rode
up, and asked : 'Who art thou ? ' Sanartia told him the name
of the king, his father. Then the prince invited him, saying :
' I go to marry a wife ; ride with me.' Sanartia agreed, and
they went together to the appointed place.

When they came near, they sent on a man to the king,
who was master of the country, asking him to give his
daughter in marriage to the prince. The king agreed, and
sent to say : ' If the prince succeeds in performing two
exploits, I shall fulfil his wish ; but to do these deeds is both
hard and perilous : the princess throws a great lump of lead
as far as a gun will carry a bullet, the suitor must throw it
back again to the place where the princess is standing.'
The suitor for the maiden's hand sent and said : ' I will do
this.'

He went and stood in the place the maiden pointed out
to him. She threw a piece of lead which fell at the place
where the prince stood ; he was not only unable to throw
the lead, but could not even lift it from the ground ; then
his comrade, the other prince, Sanartia, took up the lead and
threw it for him. The piece of lead went much farther than
the maiden had thrown it.

This exploit having been performed, the prince had
another to do : mistaking Sanartia for the suitor, they took
him to a wilderness where there was a castle, and in it dwelt
Ocho-Kochi."- They opened the door of the castle, and let

^ Ocho-Kochi, literally, 'the goat-man,' occupies an important place
in Mingrelian mythology. He is a satyr, a wild man of the woods,
represented as an old man with a long beard, his body covered with
hair.

SANARTIA 13s

in the prince, saying : ' This Ocho-Kochi will kill the young
man.' He spent that night in the castle.

When he was preparing to sleep, Ocho-Kochi came to him
and wished to kill him, but Sanartia was very strong, he
seized Ocho-Kochi, threw him on the ground, and beat him
with all his might. When he had thrashed him soundly, he
said to him : ' Go and stand at the gate as watchman.' So
he went and watched till dawn.

In the morning, the king, the maiden's father, sent his
vizier, saying : ' Find out what the prince and Ocho-Kochi
are doing.' When the vizier came to the door, Ocho-Kochi
called out from the inside : ' Master sleeps, wake him not,
or he will beat me.' The vizier made no reply to Ocho-
Kochi, but went back and told the king what he had
heard.

The king was amazed, he set out for the castle, and said
to Ocho-Kochi : ' Open the door to me.' But Ocho-Kochi
replied : ' Master will kill me.' Just then, Sanartia awoke,
and said to Ocho-Kochi : ' Open the door for him.' He
immediately opened the door, and let in the king. Then
the king and Sanartia went away together. The king
wished to marry him to his daughter, but Sanartia went
away secretly ; he dressed the prince, his companion, in his
clothes, and sent him in his place to the king ; as soon as he
arrived he was wedded to the princess. Afterwards Sanartia
visited him as a friend.

If they had known that Sanartia had performed these
exploits they would not have given the princess to the
other prince. But a handmaiden at the court found out
the secret somehow, that Sanartia had done the deeds, and
the princess's husband had done nothing. One evening
the handmaiden told the princess how Sanartia had cheated

136 MINGRELIAN TALES

her and married her to another man ; she was angry, and
that same night, after Sanartia had lain down to sleep, she
went and cut off his leg at the knee.

Sanartia did not die of the wound, but went away to another
land, and became friendly with a one-handed man, and they
lived together in the house of the latter. Afterwards they
built a house in common, and moved into it. Sanartia took
a maiden, and kept her with him as nurse.' The two friends
went out to hunt, and stayed in the forest all night. At
home there was nobody but the maiden.

Meantime there came a demi, who sucked the maiden's
breast and then went away. When Sanartia and his friend
came home, the girl told them what had happened. Sanartia
left his friend and the girl at home, and said to them : ' If
the demi comes, take him and keep him till I come back.'
The demi came, but the man was afraid to lay hold of him ;
and the demi went away again. As soon as Sanartia came
in, he asked his friend and his nurse : ' What did you do ? '
They answered : ' The demi came, but we could not take
him, and he went away again.'

Next day Sanartia stayed at home, and sent his friend to
hunt. The demi came that night also, but as soon as
Sanartia saw him he met him at the door, and when the
demi came in, Sanartia seized him and threw him to the
ground, then he told the nurse to bring a rope, with which
he bound him tightly. He took out his dagger, and was
about to cut him in pieces, but the demi entreated him,

' The word translated ' nurse ' is dzidze, which means not only a
nurse but any woman, married or single, who has been adopted into
relationship by the ceremony of a man taking her breast between his
teeth. This creates a degree of kinship inferior only to that between
mother and son. The custom still exists in Mingrelia.

SAN ART I A 137

saying : ' Slay me not, and I will heal thee of all infirmities.'
Sanartia hearkened to the demi's prayers, and said : ' If
thou wilt restore my leg which was cut off I will let thee go,
otherwise I slay thee.'

The demi pledged his word to heal him, and led him to
a great river, saying : ' Put thy leg therein and it will be
sound.' But Sanartia did not yet believe the demi, so he
ordered him to bring a dry stick, and said : ' Put this stick
in the water, and if it becomes green and bears leaves then
will I put in my leg, otherwise I will not.' The stick was
put in the water, but it came out as dry as before.

Then Sanartia was angry, and wished to kill the demi,
but again he entreated, saying : ' There is still another heal-
ing stream.' So he took him to the other stream, and as
soon as Sanartia put in his leg it was made whole and sound
like the other leg. After this, he did not kill the demi, but
let him go free ; he made the demi heal his one-handed
friend, whom he wedded to his nurse. He left them there,
and set out for his father's house.

But when he reached it, nobody knew him. Next day he
secretly mounted his father's horse, and went to the place
where he had married the prince to the princess. On the
road he saw a swineherd ; when he approached, he recog-
nised in him his old friend the prince. When he questioned
him, the swineherd replied : ' As soon as thou hadst gone
hence they made me a swineherd.' Sanartia drew out his
sword, gave it to him, and said : ' Kill all the swine but
three, and wound those three ; then drive the three home,
I shall be there, ready to punish anybody who is angry with
thee.' The swineherd did as Sanartia told him, and in the
evening drove the three swine into the king's courtyard.

Sanartia came to the palace earlier, but they did not

138 MINGRELIAN TALES

recognise him. When the swineherd drove in his swine,

his wife was about to beat him, saying : ' Why hast thou

lost the swine.' But at that moment Sanartia appeared

before the princess, was angry with her, and said : ' If thou

wert a good woman thou wouldst not make thy husband

feed swine.' . . . They knew at once that it was Sanartia,

and were much amazed, saying : ' His leg was cut off at the

knee, how has he replaced his leg ? ' Sanartia ordered

them to bring the princess's husband : he made her wash

him well with her own hands, bring clothes, and dress him

in noble apparel. When Sanartia was leaving for home, he

called the princess and her parents, and said to them :

' If you do not treat the prince as becomes his

rank, I shall come at once, and it will fare ill

with you.' He took leave of them all

and went home.

VII

The Shepherd Judge

IN a certain land, there was once a king who had four
viziers to judge the people. Once these judges uttered
a remarkable sentence. At that time there came to the
king a certain shepherd, who spoke in a manner that pleased
the king, so he commanded the viziers : ' Show this
shepherd the sentence you pronounced.' When the shep-
herd had examined the decree of the viziers, it did not
please him ; he took it and altered it from beginning to end.
When the king saw this, he said to the shepherd : ' Since
thou art so skilled in judging, be thou a judge.' The
shepherd refused, and said : ' As long as I have eyes I can-

THE SHEPHERD JUDGE 139

not judge, if you put out both my eyes then I will be a
judge.' Finally he persuaded them to put out his eyes.
They built him a great, fine house, they gave him scribes,
furnished him with everything befitting his office, and made
the shepherd supreme judge.

He began to do justice in such an upright manner that
people flocked to him from every side. Everybody went
to him for justice : great and small, master and servant, old
and young, clergy and laity, friend and enemy— in a word,
all who had suits with anybody came to him, every one
praised and blessed his decisions.

Once there came to him a man and a woman. The man
said to the judge : ' I came to this woman's house on a
mule j a calf accompanied my mule. When I tied up the
mule, the calf began to suck its breast. The woman, seeing
this, ran out, seized the calf, and began to grumble at me,
saying it was her calf, and asking how it came to be with
my mule. I withstood her with all my might, but it was of
no avail. She wished to drag away the calf, but I would
not allow it, I would not give up my property to her ; we
quarrelled, and now we have come before thee — in God's
name judge between us ! ' Thus he spoke in person to the
judge, but secretly he sent him a large bribe and a message,
saying : ' Take this money, and put me not to shame before
this woman.'

But the judge would not tamper with the scales of justice,
and sent to tell the man : ' How can I take the calf from
the woman by force, if justice do not demand it ? ' The
judge asked the woman : ' What sayest thou ? ' The woman
replied : ' My lord, this man rode up to my house on a
mule ; I had nothing in the world but one calf and its
mother, which I loved ; my calf went up to this man's

140 MINGRELIAN TALES

mule, caressed it, and took hold of it with its snout, as if it
were going to suck its breast. The man, seeing this,
thought : ' I shall certainly take away this calf with me.'
He dragged it home, but, of course, I could not allow this
— all extol thine equity, I too am come to thy door, and
trust thou wilt not suffer me to be trampled down by in-
justice.'

When the judge had heard both sides, he pronounced the
following decision : ' Since a mule never bore offspring and
never will, it is still less possible that a mule should bring
forth a calf. Let the calf therefore be taken from the man,
and given to the woman who owns the cow, the mother of
the calf.' This judgment pleased everybody in the highest
degree. And God was merciful to this good judge: by
means of the kerchief of that woman his eyes were made

whole, and he saw. After this he saw with both eyes,

but till the day of his death he judged uprightly ;

when he died he went to heaven.

VIII

The Priest's youngest Son

THERE was once a priest who had three sons. On the
day of his death, the priest said to his sons ; ' When
I die, let each of you read the psalter over me for one
night.' But the elder sons did not do as their father had
bidden them, only the youngest read the psalter over him.
That night his father appeared, and gave him a horse.
Next night he again read the psalter over his father in his
brothers' place. His father again appeared, and gave him
another horse, which he resolved to give to his younger

THE PRIEST'S YOUNGEST SON 141

brother. On the third night he again read the psalter.
His father brought him a third horse, gave the young man
his blessing, and departed.

At that time, a princess was to be married to any man
whose horse could jump up to the castle, so that its rider
could kiss that maiden-queen. Many princes came to woo,
but none of their horses could leap up to the castle. Then
the priest's youngest son mounted the horse his father had
given him, and rode up to the royal palace ; he struck the
horse with his switch, and made it jump, but it could only
go one third of the way up to the castle. Next day he
mounted another horse, and made it jump, it went two
thirds of the height of the castle. The third day he came
on the third horse, and made it jump ; it jumped right up to
the top of the castle ; the youth kissed the princess, and they
married him to her. After this the priest's son went home.

At this time the queen, his mother-in-law, fell ill ; she sent

for her son-in-law, and said to him : ' Between the white

sea and the black sea there feeds a doe, they tell me that

its milk will do me good ; if thou canst get it for me I shall

recover, if not, I must die.' Then the youth mounted his

horse and went forth. He rode between the seas, milked

the doe, brought its milk to his mother-in-law, gave

it to her to drink, and healed her.

142 MINGRELIAN PROVERBS

Mingrelian Proverbs

1. ■npURN to the right, or turn to the left,

J. 'Twill all be one in the end.'

2. The rat that came from outside,
Drove out the house-born rat.

3. Fight for the outlying village.

If thou wantest the one nearer home.

4. Wish thy neighbour to have an ox,
And God will send it to thee.

5. The wolf was abused as wolfish.
While the jackal ate up the flock.

6. The hen scratched and scratched till she dug up a

knife.
With which her own throat was afterwards cut.

7. The road runs where an old road ran,

The river flows in the bed of a former river.

8. ' Give me room to stand,' quoth the bull, ' and I

Shall make myself enough room to lie.'

9. If the bear overcome thee — then call him Papa.^
10. The dog took fright at a wolf.

And barked all the year round at a stump.
I r. Who ever heard of a fish being prized
As long as it stayed in the stream ?

12. They shot at the ripe — but the green fruit fell.

1 3. Leave a good deed on a stone by the way,

Thou 'It find it again after many a day {i.e. Cast thy
bread on the waters).

' Cf. note 3 on p. 109.

'' Cf. The Talmud (Polano's Selections, p. 287). ' If the fox is king
bow before him.'

MINGRELIAN PROVERBS 143

14. I say it — but whether it happen or no
'Tis nothing to do with me.

15. Eat and drink up whatever is thine,
But cross thyself over all that 's mine.

16. Who slew me ? — My brother.

Who brought me back to life ? — My brother.

17. The well-doer receives not good in return.

18. The truthful man is always duped.

19. My father I love, my mother I love-
But myself I prefer before all.

20. A heart-kiss is better than a lip-kiss.

21. If thou hast not eaten pepper, why does thy mouth

burn?

22. A disease that one sees, will not kill ;
'Tis hidden sores do the most ill.

23. Our granny has no teeth, so she
Likes not others' teeth to see.

24. He has forgotten the soul of his father, so he swears

by the soul of his grandsire.

25. Gold is good, but if thou have it not, of what use is it

to thee ?

26. Better is copper of thine own than gold that is another's.

27. Of what use is light to him that is blind ?

28. If thou art brave, do not bewail
The bluntness of thy sword.

Ill

GURIAN FOLK TALES

GURIAN FOLK TALES

The Strong Man and the Dwarf

THERE came from far-off lands a strong man who had
nowhere met his match, and challenged any one in
the whole kingdom to wrestle with him. The king gathered
his folk together, but, to his wonder, could not for a long
time find anybody ready to face the strong man, till, at last,
there stood forth a weak insignificant-looking dwarf, who
offered to wrestle with the giant.

Haughtily looking down on his adversary, the giant care-
lessly turned away, thinking that he was befooled. But
the dwarf asked that his strength should be put to the proof
before the struggle began.

The giant angrily seized a stone, and, clasping it in his
fingers, squeezed moisture out of it.

The dwarf cunningly replaced the stone by a sponge of
the same appearance, and squeezed still more moisture out
of it.

The giant then took another stone, and threw it so violently
on the ground that it became dust.

The dwarf took a stone, hid it under the ground, and
threw on the ground a handful of flour, to the great aston-
ishment of the giant.

148 GURIAN FOLK TALES

Stretching forth his hand to the dwarf, the giant said :
' I never expected to find so much strength in such a small
man, I will not wrestle with you ; but give me your hand
in token of friendship and brotherhood.'

After this, the giant asked the dwarf to go home with him.
But first he asked the dwarf why he had not pressed his
hand in a brotherly manner. The dwarf replied that he
was unable to moderate the force of his pressure, and that
more than one man had already died from the fearful force
of his hand. The new brothers then set out together. On
their way to the giant's house, they came to a stream which
had to be forded.

The dwarf, fearing to be carried away by the current, told
the strong man that he was suffering from belly-ache, and
did not therefore wish to go into the cold water, so he
asked to be carried over.

In the midst of the stream, the strong man, with the dwarf
on his shoulders, suddenly stopped and said : ' I have heard
that strong people are heavy, but I do not feel you on my
shoulders. Tell me how this is, for God's sake.'

' Since we have become brothers,' replied the dwarf, ' I
have no right to press with all my weight upon you, and
did I not support myself by holding on to the sky with one
hand, you could never carry me.'

But the strong man, wishing to test his strength, asked
the dwarf to drop his hand for a moment, whereupon the
dwarf took from his pocket two nails, and stuck the sharp
points of them in the shoulders of the strong man.

The giant could not endure the pain, and begged the
dwarf to lighten his burden at once, i.e. to lay hold of
heaven with one hand again.

When they had reached the other side, the two new

STRONG MAN AND DWARF 149

friends soon came to the strong man's house. The giant,
wishing to give a dinner to the dwarf, proposed that they
should share the work of getting it ready, that one of them
should take the bread out of the oven, while the other
went to the cellar for wine.

The dwarf saw in the oven an immense loaf which he
could never have lifted, so he chose to go to the cellar for
wine. But when he had descended, he was unable even to
lift the weights on the top of the jars, so, thinking that by
this time the giant would have taken the loaf out of the
oven, he cried : ' Shall I bring up all the jars ? '

The giant, alarmed lest the dwarf should spoil his whole
year's stock of wine, by digging the jars out of the ground,
where they were buried, rushed down into the cellar, and
the dwarf went upstairs.

But great was the astonishment of the dwarf when he
found that the bread was still in the oven, and that he must
take it out, willy-nilly. He succeeded with difficulty in
dragging a loaf to the edge of the oven, but then he fell
with the hot bread on top of him, and, being unable to free
himself, was almost smothered.

Just then the giant came in, and asked what had hap-
pened. The dwarf replied : ' As I told you this morning,
I am suffering from a stomach-ache, and, in order to soothe
the pain, I applied the hot loaf as a plaster.' . . . Then the
giant came up, and said : ' Poor fellow ! How do you feel
now, after your plaster ? ' ' Better, thank God,' replied the
dwarf, ' I feel so much better that you can take off the loaf.'
. . . The giant lifted the loaf, and the two then sat down to
dinner. Suddenly the giant sneezed so hard that the dwarf
was blown up to the roof, and seized a beam, so that he
should not fall down again. The giant looked up with

ISO GURIAN FOLK TALES

astonishment, and asked : ' What does this mean ? ' The

dwarf angrily repHed : ' If you do such a vulgar thing again

I shall pull this beam out and break it over your stupid

head.' The giant made humble excuses, and promised

that he would never sneeze again during dinner

time ; he then brought a ladder by which the

dwarf came down. . . .^

The Grasshopper and the Ant '

T^

*HE grasshopper and the ant became friends, and
J. entered into a compact of brotherhood, promising
never to separate. They then set out on a journey, forget-
ful of the proverb that ' footman and horseman can never be
comrades.' Of the truth of this they had a proof on the
very first day of their travels, for, chancing to come to a
brook which they had to ford, the grasshopper jumped over,
while the poor ant was carried away by the stream.

The grasshopper thought, for a moment, how he could
save his drowning companion, and then cried : ' Catch
hold of something, and I shall run and get help.'

The bright idea struck him of applying to the sow for
one of her bristles, to which the ant could attach herself
while he pulled her out of the water.

The sow answered : ' Brother grasshopper, you know the
proverb, "hand washes hand"; for three days I have eaten
nothing, and am I to let people pull bristles out of me for
nothing ? Feed me with acorns, and then you can have as
many bristles as you like.'

^ Cf. Malcolm: Skeiches of Persia, ch. xvi. 'Ameen and the Ghool.
Jacobs : More English Fairy Tales, p. 173, and note on p. 239.
^ Cf. The House that Jack built.

GRASSHOPPER AND ANT 151

The grasshopper hurried off to the oak and said : ' Oak,
oak, give me acorns, I give the acorns to the sow, the sow
gives me a bristle, and with the bristle I save my drowning
comrade.'

The oak answered :

' Those thievish jays give me no rest, they pull off my
acorns ; keep them off.'

The grasshopper ran to the jays, and said :

' Jays ! leave the oak, and the oak will give me acorns,
the acorns I give to the sow, the sow gives me a bristle,
and with the bristle I save my drowning comrade.'

The jays answered :

'The kites pursue us ; go and drive them off.'

The grasshopper ran to the kites, and said :

' Kites ! leave the jays, and the jays will leave the oak,
the oak will give me acorns, the acorns I give to the sow,
the sow gives me a bristle, and with the bristle I save my
drowning comrade.'

The kites answered :

' We are hungry ; bring us chickens.'

The grasshopper ran to the hen, and said :

' Hen, give me chickens. The chickens I shall give to
the kites, the kites leave the jays, the jays leave the oak, the
oak gives acorns, the acorns I give to the sow, the sow gives
me a bristle, with the bristle I save my drowning comrade.'

The hen replied :

' Feed me with millet.'

The grasshopper hastened to the barn :

' Barn, give me millet, the millet I give to the hen, the
hen gives me chickens, the chickens I give to the kites, the
kites leave the jays, the jays leave the oak, the oak gives
acorns, the acorns I give to the sow, the sow gives me a
bristl e, and with the bristle I save my drowning comrade.'

152 GURIAN FOLK TALES

The barn replied :

' The rats have the mastery over me, they gnaw me on
every side ; send them away.'

The grasshopper ran to the rats :

' Rats ! go away from the barn, and the barn will give me
millet, the millet I give to the hen, the hen gives me
chickens, the chickens I give to the kites, the kites leave
the jays, the jays leave the oak, the oak gives acorns, the
acorns I give to the sow, the sow gives me a bristle, and with
the bristle I save my drowning friend.'

The rats replied :

' The cats give us no peace ; send them away.'

The grasshopper went to the cats :

' Cats ! go away from the rats, and the rats will leave the
barn, the barn will give millet, the millet I give to the hen,
the hen gives me chickens, the chickens I give to the kites,
the kites leave the jays, the jays leave the oak, the oak
gives acorns, the acorns I give to the sow, the sow gives me
a bristle, and with this bristle I shall save my drowning
comrade.'

The cats replied :

' Feed us with milk.'

The grasshopper ran to the cow :

' Cow ! give me milk, the milk I shall give to the cats,
the cats will leave the rats alone, the rats will leave the
barn,' etc., etc.

The cow replied :

' Feed me with grass.'

The grasshopper applied to the earth, and said :

' O earth ! give me grass, the grass I shall give to the
cow, the cow will give me milk, the milk I shall give to the
cats, then the cats will leave the rats alone, and the rats will

COUNTRYMAN AND MERCHANT 153

leave the barn, the barn will give me millet, the millet I
shall give to the hen, the hen will give me chickens, the
chickens I shall give to the kites, then the kites will leave
the jays, and the jays will leave the oak, the oak will give
me acorns, the acorns I shall give to the sow, the sow will
give me a bristle, and with this bristle I shall save my
drowning friend.'

The earth gave the grass . . . and finally the grasshopper
obtained the bristle, and hastened with it to his drowning
friend, but, to his astonishment, the ant was quite dead when
he pulled him out. This story teaches that help is only
valuable when it is given in time, that the earth alone re-
fuses notto yield her gifts to him that asks, and that all
other things exist only by reciprocal services.

Ill
The Countryman and the Merchant

A COUNTRYMAN caught a pheasant, and was carrying
it home to cook it for himself and his wife.

Suddenly the pheasant spoke like a man, and said : ' Let
me go, goodman, and I shall repay you.'

The countryman was astonished, and asked :

' What could you do for me ? '

The pheasant replied : ' You are an old man, and must
soon die ; when you are dead, I shall gather together all the
birds of the air, and follow you to the grave. Since the
world began, no king ever had such an honour paid to him
at his funeral.'

The countryman was pleased at the offer, and set the
pheasant free. When he reached home, he told his wife
what had happened, and, although she scolded him at first for

154 GURIAN FOLK TALES

letting the bird go, yet she was pleased when the pheasant
sent, every morning, birds to ask after the old man's health.

A happy thought soon occurred to the wife, and she said
to her husband : ' Listen to me, we are almost dying of
hunger, and we have a good chance of getting plenty of food.
Pretend that you are dead ; I shall begin to cry, and all the
birds will come to your funeral, I shall entice them into our
cottage, shut the doors and windows ; we can knock them
down with sticks, and thus lay in a store of food to last us
for a long time.'

So the countryman covered himself with a sheet, and lay
down, while his wife went outside and wept loudly.

A hoopoe flew down, and asked after her husband's
health ; when the wife announced his death, the hoopoe at
once flew away, and, within an hour, there flew into the
yard, in long lines, some thousands of pheasants, the same
number of doves, snipe, quails, woodcock, etc., and even
eagles, kites, hawks, etc.

Some of the birds settled in the cottage, some in the barn,
some in the stable, some in the yard, and the rest, for which
there was no room, remained in serried ranks in the air.

Then the wife shut the doors, and, with her husband, set
about killing the birds ; only those that were outside escaped.

In the evening, there came a merchant, and asked to be
allowed to spend the night in the cottage. At supper, the
merchant saw a great abundance of game of all kinds, and
asked the countryman how such luxury was within the reach
of a poor man. The countryman replied : ' I have a cat of
a famous breed, which has never yet failed me. When I
want game for my table, I tell her what kind of birds I
should like, and how many, and she goes into the forest and
gets them. I do not know what was the matter with her

COUNTRYMAN AND MERCHANT 155

last night, but see ! she went into the wood of her own will,
and killed all the birds in the neighbourhood, and brought
them to us.' The countryman then showed a whole heap
of dead game.

The merchant at once began to bargain with the country-
man for the cat, and finally purchased it for a large sum.

When the merchant reached home, he went about his
business, and told his wife that he would not leave her any
money for housekeeping, for she had only to give her orders,
and the cat would bring all sorts of game for food. But
when he came in, he was astonished to find that his wife
had eaten nothing, the cat had brought no birds, but had
even stolen what was in the house already. So he went
back to ask the countryman about it.

The countryman saw him coming, filled a pot with millet
and hung it over the fire. He then sat down near it, put a
grain of millet in the palm of his hand, and began to wash it.
The merchant came in and stood by him ; the countryman
pretended not to see the merchant, muttered an incantation,
and dropped the grain into the pot. Then he stirred it
with a spoon, and behold the pot was full. The merchant
did not know whether to quarrel with the countryman or to
get this magic pot from him.

' What is this you have done to me ? ' said he. ' Your
cat is useless, it brings nothing, and steals what we have.'

' Have you been feeding it with roast meat ? I forgot to
warn you that you must not do this.'

'Well, it is my fault then,' said the merchant. 'But will
you sell me that pot ? '

' I have already lost my famous cat. It is not likely that
I shall now let you have this pot, in which I can make a dish
of porridge with only one grain.'

iS6 GURIAN FOLK TALES

However, they began bargaining, and at last the country-
man sold his pot for a large sum. When the merchant
reached home, he consoled his wife by telling her that from
one barleycorn she could now make as much porridge as
she wanted ; he then set out again. When he returned, his
wife complained that the pot was of no use. So he called
again on the countryman, to ask for an explanation.

The countryman, foreseeing that the merchant would
come, got two hares exactly alike, and tied ribbons of the
same colour round their necks. He left one hare at home,
and took the other out into the fields with him. He told
his wife that if the merchant came, she was to send him out
to the field, and in an hour bring him a dinner consisting
of two boiled fowls, a roast turkey, ten eggs, wine, and
bread.

The merchant came, and the woman sent him to the field
where her husband was working. In reply to the reproaches
of the merchant, the countryman said : ' You have probably
made some stupid mistake with the pot as you did with the
cat. But let us sit down and dine while we talk it over, for
I cannot suffer you to come to me without feeding you.'
The merchant looked round and said : ' How can we get
anything to eat out here in the fields ? '

The peasant went to a bush, untied the hare, and said to
it : ' Run at once, little hare, to my wife, and tell her to
come with you and bring us a pair of fowls, a roast turkey,
ten eggs, wine, and bread.'

The hare ran off as fast as it could. It is easy to under-
stand the astonishment of the merchant when the woman
came with the hare, bringing all that the man had ordered.
When they had eaten, the merchant said : ' You have
cheated me about the cat and the pot, but I forgive you if

COUNTRYMAN AND MERCHANT 157

you let me have the hare.' The countryman refused at first,
but finally agreed to sell the hare for a large sum.^

On his way home with the hare, the merchant met some
friends whom he asked to sup with him, but seeing that he
would not arrive until it was late, he ordered the hare
to run and tell his wife that he was coming with some
guests, and that she was to prepare supper. When he and
his friends reached home, they found the house quite dark,
and had difficulty in rousing the wife from her sleep. She
told him that no hare had been there, and that she did not
know what he was talking about.

The merchant was now furious, and determined to punish
the countryman severely. But the countryman guessed
what would happen, and arranged with his wife what should
be done. He took the intestine of a small calf, filled it
with blood, and tied it round his wife's neck, telling her to
cover it up with a kerchief. The merchant came in, and
without saying a word rushed at the countryman, who, in
his turn, attacked his wife, accusing her of being the guilty
party, and with a knife pierced the intestine under her
throat. She fell on the ground, and pretended that she was
dying. The merchant was alarmed, and cried : ' What have
you done, you wretched man ? I would willingly have lost
the money rather than have this innocent blood shed.'
The countryman answered : ' That is my affair. Though I
have killed my wife I can raise her to life again.' 'I believe
you no longer,' said the merchant, ' but if you perform this
miracle I shall forgive you all' The countryman approached
his wife with the knife in his hand, muttered something, and
his wife opened her eyes, and, to the surprise of the mer-
chant, rose up.

' Cf . Jacobs : More English Fairy Tales, p. 209, and note on p. 242.

iS8 GURIAN FOLK TALES

The merchant bought the wonderful knife, saying that
his wife, too, needed a lesson sometimes. When the mer-
chant reached home, his wife asked where he had been. He
told her to be silent and mind her own business. ' If you are
not quiet I will cut your throat.' The woman looked at him
with astonishment, and wondered whether he had gone out
of his mind. The merchant threw down his wife, and cut her
throat. All the neighbours flocked in, and raised a great cry.
The merchant said : ' What if I have killed my wife ? I can
bring her to life again.' The neighbours stood by while he
muttered the invocations he had learnt, but he could not
raise her. Then he flew to the countryman, tied his hands,
and dragged him into the forest, saying : ' I wish to prolong
your sufferings, and will not kill you at once. I shall starve
you, drag you about in the woods, and, when I have worn
you out with tortures, I shall throw you into the sea.' On
the road there was a town, in which a king had just died,
and his funeral was then taking place. Having bound the
countryman to a tree in the depths of the forest, the mer-
chant returned to the town to see the royal funeral. Just
then, a shepherd happened to drive his flock near the tree
to which the countryman was tied. Seeing the shepherd a
little way off, the countryman began to shout : ' I will not be
king ! I will not be king ! No ! No ! No ! ' The shepherd
came up and asked what was wrong. The countryman
replied : ' You know, brother, that the king is dead in the
town : they want me to take his place, but I will not, for I
have been king twice, and know what it is. Ah, brother !
one has so many cares, so much work, that one's head
swims. I had rather be tied to this tree than consent to be
king.' The shepherd thought for a moment, and replied :
' I, brother, would give anything in the world to have a
trial of the life of a king.' ' I gladly give you my place,

COUNTRYMAN AND MERCHANT 159

but, so that people may not know, put on my clothes, and I
shall bind you to the tree, and by to-morrow you shall
be king.' The shepherd gladly gave him his flock, and took
his place at the tree.

As soon as the countryman was free, he drove away the
flock.

When it was quite dark, the merchant appeared, loosed
his victim, and drove him on. When they came to the steep
seashore, the shepherd saw that the merchant wished to
drown him, and cried : ' Do not drown me ! I had rather
consent to be king.' The merchant thought his prisoner
had lost his wits through fatigue and ill-treatment ; without
more ado he threw him into the sea.

A fortnight later, the merchant was travelling on business,
when he met on the road the same countryman whom he,
as he thought, had drowned, and who was now driving a
flock. ' What do I see ! ' cried the merchant. ' Are you
there ? Did I not drown you in the sea ? '

' My benefactor ! ' replied the countryman. ' I wish you
would drown me again. You cannot imagine what a
quantity of cattle there is down there at the bottom of the
sea. It is a pity I had no stick with me, for I could not
drive out more than these with my hands.'

The merchant besought the countryman, saying : ' You
have ruined me. The cat, the pot, the hare, the knife, have
all cost money ; thanks to you, I am a beggar and a widower.
If you remember the place where I threw you into the sea,
drown me there, but let me have a stick, so that I may repair
my fortune.' To get rid of the troublesome merchant, the

countryman agreed to fulfil his request, and so drowned
him with a very long switch in his hand.'

^ Cf. the last incident with the end of ' Little Fairly,' in Samuel
Lover's Legends and Stories of Ireland.

i6o GURIAN FOLK TALES

IV

The King and the Sage

ONCE upon a time, there reigned in one of the realms
of the East a shah named Ali, a man of amiable and
merry character. Ali was much beloved by his subjects,
and he too loved them with all his heart. The shah played
with them as if they had been his children ; he gave them
festivals, arranged competitions, and gave prizes for the best
poetical productions, etc. The shah was skilled in the
famous literature of Arabia, and was thought to be a learned
man ; besides this, he was a wit and a joker, and loved to
set his folk merry riddles to guess : prizes were given to the
successful. Once the ferashes (or servants) of the shah
made known to the people, that Ali had promised three
hundred pieces of gold to him who should ask his majesty
such a question that the answer must inevitably be : That
is Impossible.

This announcement created great excitement, and men,
women, and children all alike set themselves to think out
such a question. The day of the competition dawned at
last, and the vast square before the palace was crowded
with a curious throng. At the appointed hour, Shah Ali
appeared, surrounded by a brilliant guard, and music filled
the air. After greeting his folk, the shah sat down on a
throne, opposite the platform on which the candidates were
to stand while they asked the shah their questions.
Heralds gave out the challenge, and a wit of the town
mounted the rostrum and loudly said : ' Shah ! a courier
has just galloped into the town and told me a most
astonishing piece of news, to wit, that at dawn this morning,
twenty versts from your capital, the moon fell from the sky

THE KING AND THE SAGE i6i

to the ground, and burned two and twenty villages to ashes.'
The shah meditated a moment, and then replied : ' That is
possible.' The town wit got down, amid the laughter of the
people.

His place was taken by a courtier, the shah's body-
surgeon, who shouted : ' Most illustrious Shah ! In your
harem a most astounding event has just happened — your
first wife, your beloved Zuleika, has just given birth to a
sucking-pig covered with bristles.' The shah considered,
and then replied : ' That is possible.' The doctor fled in
shame, and the people laughed more loudly than before.

After the doctor came an astrologer, who said : ' Most
noble Shah ! In observing the courses of the stars I have
discovered a woful piece of news ; an awful fate awaits you.
O King, you will soon have horns like a goat, and claws
like a panther, you will lose the power of speech, and flee
from us into the woods, where you will dwell exactly seven
years and three months.' To him likewise the shah
replied : ' That is possible,' and he too disappeared, amid
the jeers of the mob.

The competition lasted throughout the whole of that day
and the next, to the delight of the people, until at last they
thought of getting a certain Nasr-Eddin, a wit well known
throughout the East, to oppose to the shah.i

On the third, and last, day appeared Nasr-Eddin, tattered
and almost naked, dragging with him two great clay jars.
Addressing the shah, he said : ' Hail to the commander of
the faithful, blessed be thy name ! Thou shalt reign yet a
hundred years, and the love and confidence of thy subjects

1 The Mullah Nasr-Eddin is the hero of hundreds of witty tales. A
French translation of some of them (from the Turkish) was published,
by Decourdemanche, in 1878.

L

i62 GURIAN FOLK TALES

will increase yearly.' 'That is possible,' said the shah.
'That the confidence your subjects repose in you is un-
bounded is evident from a fact which I am about to relate ;
you will doubtless deign to listen.' 'That is possible.'
' Your late father (God rest his soul !) was very friendly with
my late father (may the Prophet give him a place in
Paradise !)...'' That is possible.' ' Listen to me, O Shah !
When your father went forth to war with the unbelievers, he
was so poor that he could not raise an army.' . . . ' That is
possible.' ' Not only is it possible but true, for, owing to his
want of money, he borrowed from my father these two jars
full of gold pieces, and promised on his royal word that you,
O Shah, would pay your father's debt to me.' Shah Ali
burst into laughter, and said : ' That is impossible ! Your
father was a tatterdemalion like yourself, and never saw
two jars of gold even in his dreams. Take your three
hundred gold pieces, and the devil take you. You
rascal, you have outwitted me.'

The King's Son

A CERTAIN king had a son, and sent him out to be
nursed by a smith's wife. This crafty woman put
the king's child in a common cradle, and her own son in the
gorgeous royal cradle. Some years afterwards, the king
took the changeling to court, and brought his foster-brother
with him. OnS fine day, the king set out for his favourite
forest to hunt, and took his pretended son with him.
When they arrived, the king asked : ' How do you like this
place, my son ? Is it not a magnificent wood ? ' The boy
replied : ' father, if we could only burn it all somehow,
what a fine lot of charcoal we should have ! '

TEETH AND NO-TEETH 163

Then the king sent for the other boy, and asked him the

same question. • There could not be a better forest, your

Majesty ! ' ' But what would you do with it if it were yours ? '

'Nothing, your Majesty. I would double the guards,

so that it should not be injured.' Then the king

saw how the smith's wife had tried to cheat him,

and put her in prison.

VI

Teeth and No-Teeth-

SHAH ALI desired to see the hungriest man in his king-
dom, and find out how much of the daintiest food such
a man could eat at a meal. So he let it be known that on a
certain day he would dine with his courtiers in the open air,
in front of the palace. At the appointed hour, tables were
laid and dinner was served, in the presence of a vast crowd.
After the first course, the shah mounted a dais, and said :
' My loyal subjects ! you see what a splendid dinner I have.
I should like to share it with those among you who are
really hungry, and have not eaten for a long time, so tell me
truly which is the hungriest of you all, and bid him come
forward.'

Two men appeared from the crowd : an old man of fifty
and a young man of twenty-seven. The former was grey-
haired and feeble, the latter was fresh and of athletic build.

'How is it that you are hungry?' asked the shah of the
old man. , ' I am old, my children are dead, toil has worn
me out, and I have eaten nothing. for three days.' 'And
you? ' said the shah, turning to the young man. 'I could
not find work, and as I am a hearty young man I am
ashamed to beg, so I too have not eaten for three days.'

i64 GURIAN FOLK TALES

The shah ordered them to be given food, on one plate, and

in small portions. The hungry men eagerly ate, watching

each other intently. Suddenly the old man and the young

one both stopped and began to weep. 'Why do you

weep?' asked the shah in astonishment. 'I have no

teeth,' said the old man, ' and while I am mumbling my

food this young man eats up everything.' 'And why

are you weeping ? ' ' He is telling lies, your majesty ;

while I am chewing my meat the old man gulps

down everything whole. . . .'

VII

The Queen's Whim

A CERTAIN queen wished to have a palace built of
the bones of all kinds of birds. The king ordered
birds to be caught, and the building was begun. Bones of
all kinds were brought and cleaned, and the walls were
rising, but they could not find a hedge-sparrow, and, as the
queen wanted all sorts of birds, a search was made for the
missing one. At last the hedge-sparrow was found, and
brought before the king, who asked where she had been.
' Mighty monarch ! I have been flying all over the kingdom
counting the men and women ; unfortunately there are twice
as many women as men.' The king ordered the bird to be
punished for telling him such a shameless falsehood.
' King of kings,' said the hedge-sparrow, ' perhaps I did not
count in the same way as you do.' ' How did you count,
then ? ' 'I counted all those men who are under the
slipper of women as old women.' The hedge-sparrow
thus hinted that the king himself was an old woman,
because he had not strength of mind enough to
resist the foolish whims of his wife.

THE FOOL'S GOOD FORTUNE 165

VIII

The Fool's good Fortune

A CERTAIN man died and left three sons. One was
altogether a fool, another was fairly intelligent, and
the third was rather clever. This being so, it was of course
difficult for them to live together. In dividing the inherit-
ance among them, the fool was cheated, and in regard to
the cattle he was thus cozened : There were three entrances
to the penfold, two open and one very narrow. The two
clever brothers proposed to drive the beasts out of all three
at once ; those that issued from the small gap were to belong
to the fool. In this way the latter's share was only one
young bull out of the whole flock. But to his feeble mind
the division seemed fair enough, so he contentedly drove
his bull out into the forest, and tied it with a stout rope to a
young tree, whilst he himself wandered aimlessly about.

Three days later, the fool went to see his beast. It had
eaten and drunk nothing, but had pulled the tree up by the
roots, and laid bare a jar full of old gold coins. The fool
was delighted, and played with the money for a time, then
he resolved to take the jar and present it to the king. As
he passed along the road, every wayfarer looked into the
pot, took out the gold in handfuls, and so that he should
not notice their thefts, filled it up with stones and blocks of
wood. On reaching the palace, the fool asked for an
audience of the king, and it was granted. He emptied out
the contents of the jar at the feet of the king. When the
courtiers saw the wrath of the king, they took the fool away
and beat him. When he had recovered himself he asked
why he had been thrashed. One of the bystanders, for fun,
cried to him : ' You have been beaten because you labour

i66 GURIAN FOLK TALES

in vain.' The fool went his way, muttering the words : ' You
labour in vain.' As he passed a peasant who was reaping,
he repeated his phrase again and again, until the peasant
grew angry, and thrashed him. The fool asked why he had
been beaten, and what he ought to have said. ' You ought
to have said : " God give you a good harvest ! " ' The fool
went on saying, ' God give you a good harvest ! ' and met
a funeral. Again he was beaten, and again he asked what
he should say. They replied that he should have said :
' Heaven rest your soul ! ' He then came to a wedding, and
saluted the newly-married couple with this funereal phrase.
Again he was beaten, and then told that he should say ;
' Be fruitful and multiply ! ' His next visit was to a monas-
tery, and he accosted every monk with his new salutation.
They too gave him a thrashing, with such vigour that the
fool determined to have his revenge by stealing one of the
bells from their belfry. So he hid himself until the monks
had gone to rest, and then carried oft a bell of moderate
size. He went into the forest, climbed a tree, and hung the
bell on the branches, ringing it from time to time, partly to
amuse himself and partly to frighten away wild beasts. In
the forest there was a gang of robbers, who were assembled
to share their booty, and had just ended a merry banquet.
Suddenly they heard the sound of the bell, and were much
afraid. They took counsel as to what was to be done, and
most of them were for flight, but the oldest of the band
advised them to send a scout to see what was wrong. The
bravest among them was sent to get information, and the
rest remained as quiet as possible. The brigand went on
tiptoe through the bushes to the tree where the fool was,
and respectfully asked : ' Who are you ? If you are an
angel sent by God to punish our wickedness, pray spare us

TWO LOSSES 167

and we shall repent ; if you are a devil from hell, come and
share with us.' The fool was not so stupid that he did not
see he had to deal with robbers, so he took out a knife,
tolled the bell, and then said with a grave air : ' If you wish
to know who I am, climb the tree and show me your
tongue, so that I may mark on it who I am and what I ask
of you.' The robber obediently climbed the tree, and put
out his tongue as far as he could. The fool cut off his
tongue, and kicked him to the ground. The robber, mad
with pain, and frightened by his sudden fall, ran off howling.
His comrades had come out to meet him, and when they
saw the plight he was in they ran off in terror, leaving their
wealth. Next morning the fool found the booty, and with-
out saying anything to anybody, took it home and became
much richer than his brothers. The fool built three
palaces : one for himself, one for me, and one for you.
There is merrymaking in the fool's palace — come
and be one of the guests !

IX

Two Losses

DURING a great storm at sea, a learned man heard the
skipper giving his orders, but could not understand
a word. When the danger was past, he asked the skipper
in what language he had spoken. The sailor replied : ' In
my mother tongue, of course ! ' The scholar expressed his
regret that a man should have wasted half his life without
learning to speak grammatically and intelligibly. A few
hours later the storm arose again, and this time the
ship sprang a leak and began to founder. Then the captain
went to the scholar and asked if he could swim. The

i68 GURIAN FOLK TALES

man of books replied that he had never learned. ' I am

sorry, sir, for you will lose your whole life. The ship

will go to the bottom in a minute, and my crew and

I shall swim ashore. You would have done

well if you had spent a little of your time

in learning to swim.'

The Story of Dervish

A HUNTER killed in the mountains a stag, and began
to skin it. He then hung the skin on a bush, and
went down to a stream to wash the blood from his hands.
When he came back, he found to his surprise that the dead
stag had come to life, and was bounding away. When he
had recovered from his astonishment, he chased the beast,
but could not overtake it, and it was soon lost to sight.
He met a wayfarer, briefly told him the story, and asked if
he had ever seen a stag without a skin. ' I have never
seen a stag without a skin, but I do not wonder at your
story. Near here there is a healing spring where any
beast, even if wounded unto death, can be cured by bathing.
Your stag probably bathed there, and is now sound and
well. But if you want to know more about this wonderful
country of ours, seek out a man called Dervish, and he will
tell you things that will soon make you forget all about the
stag.' ' Where can I find this Dervish? ' asked the hunter.
' Go from village to village, and look into every courtyard,
and when you see a man smoking a pipe, with an ass and
a she-ass bound before him, ask him.'

The hunter went away, and, after a long search, found .
Dervish, who told him the following story : —

THE STORY OF DERVISH 169

' I was married,' said Dervish, ' and loved my wife, but
she deceived me with my next-door neighbour. When I
heard of this I questioned my wife, but, instead of answer-
ing, she struck me with a whip, and, to my horror, I was
turned into a dog. My wife drove me out into the yard,
and for shame I ran away. On the road I suffered hunger,
thirst, and despair, and, for the first time in my life, I knew
what it was to be powerless, and realised what a great
difference there is between man and beast. When I opened
my mouth and tried to speak, I only barked and howled.
I tried to stand on my hind legs, and walk like a man, but
I fell either backwards or forwards. Then I jumped about,
and did this so easily and briskly that I regained my
spirits, and came to think that even a dog's life had its
pleasures. While I was merrily jumping, I unexpectedly
saw a man. He looked at me and I at him. The man
smiled, and I ran up to him, but he was afraid, and
lifted his stick to strike me. We both moved away from
each other. I wanted to speak, but I barked, and the
man raised his stick again. I then began to frolic and
jump, and the man smiled again, and let me come up to him.
I understood how dog and man are always the best of
friends, and in my mind I thanked my wicked wife that she
had turned me into a dog, and not some other beast, a pig,
for instance. The man who beckoned me to come to him
was a good village priest, and we soon became great friends.
He caressed me, gave me something to eat, and I went
away with him. The kind-hearted priest, overcome by the
heat, lay down to rest under a tree, and I wished to do the
same, but the priest said : "Watch over me ! " so I did not
go to sleep, rightly thinking that if the priest woke and
found me asleep he would give me no more bread, and

170 GURIAN FOLK TALES

perhaps would drive me away. Ah ! the beginning of my
dog life was grievous. In the evening, the priest stopped to
sleep with some shepherds who were watching their flocks.
The shepherds, to show honour to their pastor, killed a lamb
for supper, got wine, and made merry. Though I took no
direct part in the feast, I kept close behind my master.
After supper, one of the shepherds looked at me, and said :
" This dog must be fond of wine, for he never takes his eyes
from the glass, and now and then he licks his lips." I
nodded my head several times. Then the shepherds
poured me out some wine in a plate, and I lapped it up
with pleasure. When they were all asleep, wolves came and
attacked the sheep. The shepherds' dogs barked, but did
not dare to attack the wolves; I rose and killed three
wolves on the spot. When the shepherds saw this, they
offered the priest a good price for me, and he finally sold
me. Before long I had killed a vast number of wolves, and
the fame of me reached the ears of the king of the country.
I was brought and taken to the palace, to the sick daughter
of the king, who' was tormented at night by brownies.
Every morning the princess woke exhausted and enfeebled.
On the first night of my watch, I saw swans enter the bed-
chamber through the closed doors, they choked and trampled
upon the sleeping princess. I was chained up, and could
do nothing to help the poor maiden. In the morning, I
was scolded for not having done anything, but one of the
courtiers defended me, saying : " He is a good dog, but he
must be unchained, and then we shall see what he can do."
Next night the swans came again. I killed ten of them,
but the eleventh asked me to spare her, saying she would
help me in the matter of my wife and our neighbour. I
trusted the swan, and let her go. To my delight,, the

THE STORY OF DERVISH 171

princess rose healthy and merry next morning. The king
was exceedingly pleased with me, and ordered me to have
a heavy gold chain, and to be fed right royally. I lived
well in the palace, but I longed to see my home and wife
again, so I soon ran away. When I entered my own house,
my wife took off my gold chain, struck me with her whip,
and turned me into a duck. I flew into a field near by,
where millet had been sown, and, being inexperienced, was
caught at once in nets laid by a peasant. The peasant
took me under his arm, and gave me to his wife, telling her
to cook me for dinner. As soon as the peasant had gone
out, the woman looked at me intently, and then took down
from the wall a whip, with which she struck me, and turned
me into a man again, saying : " Have I helped you or not?
We were twelve sisters, you killed ten of us, I am the
eleventh, and your wife is the twelfth. Now go home, take the
whip which hangs over your wife's bed, strike her and your
neighbour with it, and you can turn them into any kind of
beasts that you wish." I went in late at night, when my
wife and the neighbour were both asleep, I struck them
with the whip, and turned my wife into an ass, and the man
into a she-ass, and here they are.' The hunter was terrified
when he heard this story of Dervish, he ran away from
the enchanted mountain realm as fast as he could,
and resolved never to go back there again.

The Father's Prophecy

A CERTAIN man was wont to tell his son, while
thrashing him, that he would never come to any
good. The boy grew tired of these rebukes, and ran away
from home. Ten years later he had risen to the rank of

172 GURIAN FOLK TALES

pasha, and was set over the very pashalik where his father

hved. On his way to his post, the new pasha stopped at a

place twenty miles off, and said to the Bashi-Bazouks of

his guard : ' Ride to such and such a village, seize so and

so, and bring him to me.' The Bashi-Bazouks arrived at

night, dragged the sick old man out of bed, and took him

to the pasha. The pasha stretched himself to his full

height, and, ordering the old man to look him in the face,

said : ' Do you know me ? ' The old man fixed his gaze

on the pasha, and cried : ' Ah, pasha ! you are surely my

son.' ' Did you not tell me in my boyhood that I should

never come to any good ? Now look at me,' and the

pasha pointed to his epaulets. ' Well, was I wrong ? You are

no man, but only a pasha. What man worthy the name

would send for his father in the way you have done ?

I repeat it, you have gained the rank of pasha, but

you have not become a good man.'

XII

The Hermit Philosopher

THERE was once a wise man who loved solitude, and
dwelt far away from other men, meditating on the
vanities of the world. He spent nearly all his time in the
open air, and he could easily do this, for he lived in a
lovely southern land where there is no winter and but little
rain. As he wandered once among the verdure of his
garden, the sage stopped before an aged walnut tree covered
with ripening nuts, and said : ' Why is there such a strange
want of symmetry in nature ? Here, for instance, is a walnut
tree a hundred years old, hiding its top in the clouds, and
yet how small is its fruit : itself it grows from year to year,
but its fruit is always of the same size. Now, on the beds

THE KING'S COUNSELLOR 173

at the foot of the tree there grow great pumpkins and
melons on very small creeping plants. It would be more
fitting if the pumpkins grew on the walnut trees and the
walnuts on the pumpkin beds. Why this want of sym-
metry in nature ? ' The sage thought deeply on the subject,
and walked in the garden for a long time, till at last he felt
sleepy. He lay down under the shady walnut tree, and was
soon slumbering peacefully. In a short time, he felt a
slight blow on the face, then a second, and then a third.
As he opened his eyes, a ripe walnut fell on his nose. The
sage leaped to his feet, and said : ' Now I understand the
secret of nature. If this tree had borne melons or
pumpkins, my head would have been broken.
Henceforth let no one presume to find fault
with Providence ! '

XIII

The King's Counsellor^

THE counsellor of an Arabian king once bethought
himself that, though he had lived so many years, and
knew so much, he had never yet found out how much the
king valued his services, and to what extent his wife and
friends really loved him. He decided to try them all at
once, so he went to the palace and stole a goat of which
the king was very fond, and of which he was the keeper.
He then went home, told this secret to his wife, and in her
presence ordered the cook to roast the goat. But after-
wards he privately told the cook to hide the royal goat, and
roast a kid in its place. At supper his wife praised the dish

^ Francesco Strapparola's story of Salardo and the Falcon is practi-
cally the same as this.

174 GURIAN FOLK TALES

very highly. As soon as the king heard of the loss of his
goat, he was very angry, and cried in his wrath : ' If any
man finds the thief I shall load him with gold, if a woman
finds him I shall marry her ! ' The counsellor's wife,
thinking it better to be a king's wife, betrayed her husband.
The king ordered his counsellor to be executed, and married
the woman. When the execution was about to take place,
the victim's old friends succeeded in saving him by a large
bribe, and another criminal was executed instead. The
counsellor was hidden in a neighbouring realm. Some years
afterwards, troublesome questions of state arose, and none of
the council could solve them. The king often longed for his
old counsellor, and said : 'For the sake of a goat I sacrificed a
clever man, if he were alive he would get me out of all my
trouble in a day.' The counsellor's old friends at last
resolved to acknowledge the trick they had played. So
one day, when the king was in a good humour, they went
and said : ' Pardon us, O king ! Your first counsellor is
alive ! ' and they told him all. The king was heartily glad,
and ordered the exile to be brought back. He was well
received, and restored the goat to the king. The king said :
' My friend ! we thus see that the greatest scourge
of all is false witness, and that we must beware,
above all things, of our wives.'

XIV

A Witty Answer

A CERTAIN king was angry with one of his lords, and
put him in prison ; wishing to keep him there, he
said he would only set him free if he could bring to the
court a horse which was neither grey, nor black, brown nor

AWITTYANSWER 175

bay, white nor roan, dun, chestnut, nor piebald — and, in

short, the king enumerated every possible colour that a

horse could be. The imprisoned lord promised to get

such a horse if the king would set him free at once. As

soon as he was at liberty, the lord asked the king to send

a groom for the horse, but begged that the groom might

come neither on Monday nor Tuesday, Wednesday

nor Thursday, Friday, Saturday, nor Sunday, but

on any other day of the week that suited

His Majesty.

Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press